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24 J. Legis. 125 (1998)
Rape Shield Laws and Prior False Accusations of Rape: The Need for Meaningful Legislative Reform

handle is hein.journals/jleg24 and id is 133 raw text is: LEGISLATIVE REFORM Rape Shield Laws and Prior False Accusations of Rape: The Need for Meaningful Legislative Reform History, sacred and profane, and the common experience of mankind teach us that women of the character shown in this case are prone for selfish reasons to make false accusations both of rape and insult upon the slightest provocation, or even without provocation for ulterior purposes.' I. INTRODUCTION The words of Judge James E. Horton of the Alabama Circuit Court, written in an opinion that would ultimately curtail his judicial career,2 reflect an age-old fear that men are often falsely accused of rape. Since Biblical times, society has witnessed the detrimental effects of false rape accusations and the resulting prejudice directed to- wards rape complainants. The oft-cited moral teaching of Joseph and Potiphar's wife3 1. Alabama v. Patterson, April 3-9, 1933 (Ala. Cir. Ct. June 22, 1933) (setting aside a death sentence as against the weight of the evidence and granting a new trial in the Scottsboro case), re- printed in HAYWOOD PATTERSON & EARL CONRAD, SCOTTSBORO BOY app. at 277 (1950). The facts of the Scottsboro case, which became a cause celebre concerning the mistreatment of blacks in the criminal justice system, merit a brief recitation. In 1931 nine black youths, known as the Scottsboro boys, were accused of raping two white girls while on a Memphis bound freight train. At the various trials in 1931, the girls testified for the prosecution. Eight of the boys were found guilty and sentenced to death, while a mistrial was declared for thirteen year-old Roy Wright because the ju- ry could not decide between a death sentence or life imprisonment. The United States Supreme Court reversed the convictions and remanded the cases, holding that the boys were not afforded adequate counsel. Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45 (1932). By this time, the infirmities in the testimony of the girls had become manifest. In January 1932, Ruby Bates, one of the alleged victims, wrote a letter to one of her friends denying that the black youths had attacked her. At the retrial in 1933 presided over by Judge James E. Horton, Bates testified for the defense that neither her nor Victoria Price had been raped, and that the story had been contrived to prevent the girls from being prosecuted for vagrancy. Two days later, however, an all white jury again convicted the defendants. Judge Horton, citing the inconsistencies and contradic- tions in the testimony, granted a motion for a new trial on the ground that the conviction was against the weight of the evidence. For a complete account of the Scottsboro case, see generally, PATTERSON & CONRAD, supra; JAMES GOODMAN, STORIES OF SCOTITSBORO (1994); DAN CARTER, SCOTSBORO: A TRAGEDY OF THE AMERICAN SoUTH (rev. ed. 1979). 2. Judge Horton's reversal of the jury verdict met with harsh criticism, and he reluctantly with- drew from the case under pressure from Alabama Chief Justice John Anderson. CARTER, supra note 1, at 272-73. Judge Horton was defeated in the 1934 election for circuit court judge, although his beliefs concerning false rape allegations played little role in bringing about his defeat. As a final show of contumaciousness, the voters rewarded Thomas G. Knight, the Attorney General who prosecuted the case, by electing him Lieutenant Governor. Id. 3. Joseph the Israelite was a slave in the house of Potiphar the Egyptian. After a time, Potiphar's wife began to look fondly at Joseph. When Joseph refused to lie with Potiphar's wife, she

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