Pa. House passes new rape bill

After a summer of controversy, the state House of Representatives passed a bill yesterday confirming the meaning of the word 'no.' In May, the state Supreme Court overturned Robert Berkowitz's rape conviction because his victim did not physically try to stop him from raping her. According to court records, the female college student tried to verbally stop him by saying, "no." Yesterday's bill was passed unanimously in the House. If it is passes in the state Senate, the statute will divide rape into two crimes: sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault. Sexual assault, a second-degree felony punishable by five to 10 years in prison, would cover cases in which the defendant, without the use of force, has sex with a victim who has refused to consent. In this case, saying "no" may now be enough for a conviction. Aggravated sexual assault would apply when the defendant uses or threatens to use force, and would be a first-degree felony punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison. Women's Alliance Leadership Team member Jessie Hergert, a College senior, sees the potential new law as a mixed blessing. "It's a step in the right direction and a step in the wrong direction," she said of the proposed re-classification of rape. "Rape is so socially stigmatized?If a man isn't a convicted rapist, if he's convicted of sexual assault instead, then it takes some of the stigma off him, which is too bad." On hearing about the bill, Mary Jane Lee, president of the University's chapter of the National Organization of Women reacted similarly. "That sort of a distinction seems to be very problematic," a College junior said. "Trying to separate force from rape from force -- I can't imagine that." But Carol Tracy, a lecturer in the Women's Studies Department and director of Women's Law Project in Philadelphia, said she will not miss the word 'rape' if the Senate passes the measure. "The change in the rape law has been to make it consistent with other assault laws," she said. "Rape has traditionally been a crime against property rather than a crime against a person." The legislation, sponsored by Representative Karen Ritter (D-Lehigh County), is not a direct result of the Supreme Court case. Ritter has been working on the bill for four years, but it was bolstered by the public outcry over the Berkowitz verdict. To College senior Debra Pickett, also a member of the Women's Alliance Leadership Team, the proposed legislation is based on common sense. "Obviously I'm pleased with it," Pickett said of the bill's passage, "?but it's very difficult for me to get excited about the fact that the Pennsylvania legislature chooses to recognize what to me is a basic truth." Much of the summer's controversy centered around the fact that women are often taught to verbalize their objections to sexual advances rather than to fight them physically. Demie Kurz, co-director of the Women's Studies Program, said she hopes the new bill will help resolve this issue. "I think we've been giving women mixed messages -- some people tell women to fight back and some people say that that's dangerous," Kurz said. "It's just time that we take what women say seriously." Tracy pointed out that in states like New Jersey, unwanted intercourse is in itself considered sufficient use of force for a rape conviction. That definition of 'rape,' while not present in Pennsylvania law, seems to fit with the word's meaning in the minds of many. In Hergert's words: "In an ideal world, rape would be rape. Sex without consent would be rape."