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16 W. J. Legal Stud. 1 (2025)

handle is hein.journals/wesjalals16 and id is 1 raw text is: FRNICCHIA-FREEMAN: GENDERED CREDIBILITY ON TRIAl 5|17 ISSN 1927-9132 | ~tn ORIGINAL ARTICLE Western Journal of Legal Studies, 2025, 16:1 (online first): page 1-18. Gendered Credibility on Trial: Canadian Sexual Assault Law Reform and the Doctrine of Recent Complaint Zoe Bernicchia-Freeman 1* 1 Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Introduction1 Until the late 20th century, Canadian evidence law expressly disadvantaged sexual assault survivors. The common law doctrine of recent complaint imposed a unique requirement on complainants that was absent from non-sexual offences. Rooted in stereotypical inferences and rape myths, this doctrine attacked the credibility of persons who were sexually assaulted and did not complain at the first reasonable opportunity. Judges were required to undermine complainant trustworthiness by warning the jury about credibility concerns if a timely complaint was not made. Given that most sexual assault complainants were (and still are) women, the foundations of this doctrine were deeply gendered.2 Bill C-127 came into force in 1983, abrogating the doctrine of recent complaint once and for all. The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) affirmed this shift in R v DD: delayed disclosure alone must not give rise to an adverse inference against credibility because there is no inviolable rule on how people who are the * Zoe Bernicchia-Freeman completed her legal studies at Osgoode Hall Law School, where she received the Silver Medal upon graduation. Zoe wishes to thank her mentors from Osgoode, as well as the faculty and student editors of the Western Journal of Legal Studies for their thoughtful collaboration on this article. 1 Thank you to Melanie Randall for her helpful feedback and inspiring work in this field; to Benjamin Berger for introducing me to evidence law and recommending this article topic; and to Philip Girard for supervising this research during Osgoode Hall Law School's Legal History Workshop (2022-2023 Session). 2 Senate, Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, 32-1, No 25 (3 August 1982) at 25:19 (Richard Mosley) [Senate Committee Proceedings, August 1982]. 1 | Western Journal of Legal Studies: https://ojs.ib.uwo.ca/index.php/uwojl DOI:

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