Sexual assault

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_assault

Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which includes child sexual abuse, groping, rape (forced vaginal, anal, or oral penetration or a drug facilitated sexual assault), or the torture of the person in a sexual manner.

Definition

Generally, sexual assault is defined as unwanted sexual contact. The National Center for Victims of Crime states:

Sexual assault takes many forms including attacks such as rape or attempted rape, as well as any unwanted sexual contact or threats. Usually a sexual assault occurs when someone touches any part of another person's body in a sexual way, even through clothes, without that person's consent.

In the United States, the definition of sexual assault varies widely among the individual states. However, in most states sexual assault occurs when there is lack of consent from one of the individuals involved. Consent must take place between two adults who are not incapacitated and consent may change, by being withdrawn, at any time during the sexual act.

Types

Child sexual abuse

Main article: Child sexual abuse

Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent abuses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities (regardless of the outcome), indecent exposure of the genitals to a child, displaying pornography to a child, actual sexual contact against a child, physical contact with the child's genitals, viewing of the child's genitalia without physical contact, or using a child to produce child pornography, including live streaming sexual abuse.

The effects of child sexual abuse include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, propensity to re-victimization in adulthood, physical injury to the child, and increased risk for future interpersonal violence perpetration among males, among other problems. Sexual abuse by a family member is a form of incest. It is more common than other forms of sexual assault on a child and can result in more serious and long-term psychological trauma, especially in the case of parental incest.

Approximately 15 to 25 percent of women and 5 to 15 percent of men were sexually abused when they were children. Most sexual abuse offenders are acquainted with their victims. Approximately 30 percent of the perpetrators are relatives of the child – most often brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts or cousins. Around 60 percent are other acquaintances such as friends of the family, babysitters, or neighbors. Strangers are the offenders in approximately 10 percent of child sexual abuse cases.

Studies have shown that the psychological damage is particularly severe when sexual assault is committed by parents against children due to the incestuous nature of the assault. Incest between a child and a related adult has been identified as the most widespread form of child sexual abuse with a huge capacity for damage to a child. Often, sexual assault on a child is not reported by the child for several of the following reasons:

• children are too young to recognize their victimization or put it into words
• they were threatened or bribed by the abuser
• they feel confused by fearing the abuser
• they are afraid no one will believe them
• they blame themselves or believe the abuse is a punishment
• they feel guilty for consequences to the perpetrator

In addition, many states have criminalized sexual contact between teachers or school administrators and students, even if the student is over the age of consent.

Domestic violence

Main article: Domestic violence

Domestic violence is violence or other abuse by one person against another in a domestic setting, such as in marriage or cohabitation. It is strongly correlated with sexual assault. Not only can domestic abuse be emotional, physical, psychological and financial, but it can be sexual. Some of the signs of sexual abuse are similar to those of domestic violence.

Elderly sexual assault

Main article: Elder abuse

About 30 percent of people age 65 or older who are sexually assaulted in the U.S. report it to the police. Assailants may include strangers, caretakers, adult children, spouses and fellow facility residents, although perpetrators of elder sexual assault are less likely to be related to the victim than perpatrators of other types of elder abuse.

Groping

Main article: Groping

The term groping is used to define the touching or fondling of another person in a sexual way without the person's consent. Groping may occur under or over clothing.

Rape

Main article: Rape

Outside of law, the term rape (sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without that person's consent) is often used interchangeably with sexual assault. Although closely related, the two terms are technically distinct in most jurisdictions. Sexual assault typically includes rape and other forms of non-consensual sexual activity.

Abbey et al. state that female victims are much more likely to be assaulted by an acquaintance, such as a friend or co-worker, a dating partner, an ex-boyfriend or a husband or other intimate partner than by a complete stranger. In a study of hospital emergency room treatments for rape, Kaufman et al. stated that the male victims as a group sustained more physical trauma and were more likely to have been a victim of multiple assaults from multiple assailants. It was also stated that male victims were more likely to have been held captive longer.

In the U.S., rape is a crime committed primarily against youth. A national telephone survey on violence against women conducted by the National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 18% of women surveyed had experienced a completed or attempted rape at some time in their lives. Of these, 22% were younger than 12 years and 32% were between 12 and 17 years old when they were first raped.

In the U.K., attempted rape under the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 is a 'sexual offence' within section 31(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1991.

The removal of a condom during intercourse without the consent of the sex partner, known as stealthing, may be treated as a sexual assault or rape in some jurisdictions.

Sexual harassment

Main article: Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature. It may also be defined as the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. The legal and social definition of what constitutes sexual harassment differ widely by culture. Sexual harassment includes a wide range of behaviors from seemingly mild transgressions to serious forms of abuse. Some forms of sexual harassment overlap with sexual assault.

In the United States, sexual harassment is a form of discrimination which violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC): "Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes sexual harassment when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment."

In the United States:

• 79% of victims are women, 21% are men
  • 51% are harassed by a supervisor
  • Business, Trade, Banking, and Finance are the biggest industries where sexual harassment occurs
  • 12% received threats of termination if they did not comply with their requests
• 26,000 people in the armed forces were assaulted in 2012
  • 302 of the 2,558 cases pursued by victims were prosecuted
  • 38% of the cases were committed by someone of a higher rank
• Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
  • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, and religion. It generally applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including federal, state, and local governments. Title VII also applies to private and public colleges and universities, employment agencies, and labor organizations.
  • "It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer … to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin."

Mass sexual assault

Further information: Mass sexual assault

Mass sexual assault takes place in public places and in crowds. It involves large groups of men surrounding and assaulting a woman, groping, manual penetration, and frottage, but usually stopping short of penile rape.

Emotional and psychological effects

Aside from physical traumas, rape and other sexual assault often result in long-term emotional effects, particularly in child victims. These can include, but are not limited to: denial, learned helplessness, genophobia, anger, self-blame, anxiety, shame, nightmares, fear, depression, flashbacks, guilt, rationalization, moodswings, numbness, promiscuity, loneliness, social anxiety, difficulty trusting oneself or others, and difficulty concentrating.

Sexual assault increases an individual's risk to developing psychopathology. It is most strongly related to the development of suicidality and trauma-related disorders (including posttraumatic stress disorder), as well as the development of bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Experiencing sexual assault also increases the risk of developing anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, eating disorders, addiction, or other psychopathologies. Individuals who develop psychological disorders following sexual assault have increased frequency and severity of psychopathology compared with individuals who have not experienced sexual assault.

Family and friends of individuals who have been sexually assaulted experience emotional scarring, including a strong desire for revenge, a desire to "fix" the problem and/or move on, and a rationalization that "it wasn't that bad".

Physical effects

While sexual assault, including rape, can result in physical trauma, many people who experience sexual assault will not suffer any physical injury. Rape myths suggest that the stereotypical victim of sexual violence is a bruised and battered young woman. The central issue in many cases of rape or other sexual assault is whether or not both parties consented to the sexual activity or whether or not both parties had the capacity to do so. Thus, physical force resulting in visible physical injury is not always seen. This stereotype can be damaging because people who have experienced sexual assault but have no physical trauma may be less inclined to report to the authorities or to seek health care. However, women who experienced rape or physical violence by a partner were more likely than people who had not experienced this violence to report frequent headaches, chronic pain, difficulty sleeping, activity limitation, poor physical health, and poor mental health.

Economic effects

Due to rape or sexual assault, or the threat of, there are many resulting impacts on income and commerce at the macro level. Excluding child abuse, each rape or sexual assault costs $5,100 in tangible losses (lost productivity, medical and mental health care, police/fire services, and property damage) and $81,400 in lost quality of life. This issue has been addressed in the Supreme Court. In his dissenting opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court case U.S. v. Morrison, Justice Souter explained that 75% of women never go to the movies alone at night and nearly 50% will not ride public transportation out of fear of rape or sexual assault. It also stated that less than 1% of victims collect damages and 50% of women lose their jobs or quit after the trauma. The court ruled in U.S. v. Morrison that Congress did not have the authority to enact part of the Violence Against Women Act because it did not have a direct impact on commerce. The Commerce Clause of Article I Section VII of the U.S. Constitution gives authority and jurisdiction to the Federal government in matters of interstate commerce. As a result, the victim was unable to sue her attacker in Federal Court.

Sexual assault also has adverse economic effects for survivors on the micro level. For instance, survivors of sexual assault often require time off from work and face increased rates of unemployment. Survivors of rape by an intimate partner lose an average of $69 per day due to unpaid time off from work. Sexual assault is also associated with numerous negative employment consequences, including unpaid time off, diminished work performance, job loss, and inability to work, all of which can lead to lower earnings for survivors.

The ability to test backlogged sexual assault kits and have the results uploaded into CODIS is cost effective in terms of reducing the costs associated with sexual assaults' by spending the money on testing evidence.

Medical and psychological treatment of victims

In the emergency room, emergency contraceptive medications are offered to women raped by men because about 5% of such rapes result in pregnancy. Preventative medication against sexually transmitted infections are given to victims of all types of sexual assault (especially for the most common diseases like chlamydia, gonorhea, trichomoniasis and bacterial vaginosis) and a blood serum is collected to test for STIs (such as HIV, hepatitis B and syphilis). Any survivor with abrasions are immunized for tetanus if 5 years have elapsed since the last immunization. Short-term treatment with a benzodiazepine may help with acute anxiety and antidepressants may be helpful for symptoms of PTSD, depression and panic attacks. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) has also been proposed as a psychiatric treatment for victims of sexual assault. With regard to long term psychological treatment, prolonged exposure therapy has been tested as a method of long-term PTSD treatment for victims of sexual abuse.

Post-assault mistreatment of victims

Main article: Post-assault treatment of sexual assault victims

After the assault, victims may become the target of slut-shaming to cyberbullying. In addition, their credibility may be challenged. During criminal proceedings, publication bans and rape shield laws may operate to protect victims from excessive public scrutiny. Negative social responses to victims' disclosures of sexual assault have the potential to lead to posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Social isolation, following a sexual assault, can result in the victim experiencing a decrease in their self-esteem and likelihood of rejecting unwanted sexual advances in the future. Victims have already been through a traumatic assault and it can be exacerbated the unwillingness of law enforcement to move their case along in the forensic testing process because law enforcement officials develop preconceived notions about the victims willingness to participate in the investigation.

Prevention

U.S. troops in Afghanistan hold a 5K run/walk for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Sexual harassment and assault may be prevented by secondary school, college, workplace and public education programs. At least one program for fraternity men produced "sustained behavioral change". At least one study showed that creative campaigns with attention grabbing slogans and images that market consent are effective tools to raise awareness of campus sexual assault and related issues.

Several research based rape prevention programs have been tested and verified through scientific studies. The rape prevention programs that have the strongest empirical data in the research literature include the following:

The Men's and Women's Programs, also known as the One in Four programs, were written by John Foubert. and is focused on increasing empathy toward rape survivors and motivating people to intervene as bystanders in sexual assault situations. Published data shows that high-risk persons who saw the Men's and Women's Program committed 40% fewer acts of sexually coercive behavior than those who didn't. They also committed acts of sexual coercion that were 8 times less severe than a control group. Further research also shows that people who saw the Men's and Women's Program reported more efficacy in intervening and greater willingness to help as a bystander after seeing the program. Several additional studies are available documenting its efficacy.

Bringing in the Bystander was written by Victoria Banyard. Its focus is on who bystanders are, when they have helped, and how to intervene as a bystander in risky situations. The program includes a brief empathy induction component and a pledge to intervene in the future. Several studies show strong evidence of favorable outcomes including increased bystander efficacy, increased willingness to intervene as a bystander, and decreased rape myth acceptance.

The MVP: Mentors in Violence Prevention was written by Jackson Katz. This program focuses on discussing a male bystander who didn't intervene when woman was in danger. An emphasis is placed on encouraging men to be active bystanders rather than standing by when they notice abuse. The bulk of the presentation is on processing hypothetical scenarios. Outcomes reported in research literature include lower levels of sexism and increased belief that participants could prevent violence against women.

The Green Dot program was written by Dorothy Edwards. This program includes both motivational speeches and peer education focused on bystander intervention. Outcomes show that program participation is associated with reductions in rape myth acceptance and increased bystander intervention.

The city of Edmonton, Canada, initiated a public education campaign aimed at potential perpetrators. Posters in bar bathrooms and public transit centers reminded men that "It's not sex when she's wasted" and "It's not sex when he changes his mind". The campaign was so effective that it spread to other cities. "The number of reported sexual assaults fell by 10 per cent last year in Vancouver, after the ads were featured around the city. It was the first time in several years that there was a drop in sexual assault activity."

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden introduced in September 2014 a nationwide campaign against sexual assault entitled "It's on us". The campaign includes tips against sexual assault, as well as broad scale of private and public pledges to change to provoke a cultural shift, with a focus on student activism, to achieve awareness and prevention nationwide. UC Berkeley, NCAA and Viacom have publicly announced their partnership.

Additionally, CODIS checks whether the qualifying offense sample, DNA taken from an offender for committing a crime, was also a sexual assault. If a person committed sexual offenses in the past, this system would reveal a pattern of serial sexual offending. Using CODIS to compare backlogged rape kit tests can lead to prevention of future sexual assaults.

Prevalence

Main article: Rape statistics

See also: Estimates of sexual violence

 

Reported rates in several countries (UN)

A United Nations report compiled from government sources showed that more than 250,000 cases of rape or attempted rape were recorded by police annually. The reported data covered 65 countries.

United States

Reported rates in the United States (BJS)

 

Reported rates in US armed services

The U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey states that on average there are 237,868 victims (age 12 or older) of sexual assault and rape each year. According to RAINN, every 107 seconds someone in America is sexually assaulted. Sexual assault in the United States military also is a salient issue. Some researchers assert that the unique professional and socially-contained context of military service can heighten the destructive nature of sexual assault, and, therefore, improved support is needed for these victims.

The victims of sexual assault:

Age

• 15% are under the age of 12
• 29% are age 12–17
• 44% are under age 18
• 80% are under age 30
• 12–34 are the highest risk years
• Girls ages 16–19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.

By gender

A study from 2011 finds that,

• 19.3% of women have been victims of attempted (7.8%) or completed (11. 5%) rape during their lifetime.
• An estimated 1.7% of men have been victims of attempted or completed rape during their lifetime.
• Over 23 million women have been victims of attempted or completed rape during their lifetime.
• Almost 2 million men have been victims of attempted or completed rape during their lifetime.
• An estimated 7.6 million men have been forced to penetrate during their lifetime, 71% having done so before the age of 25.

The National Crime Victimization Survey conducted by the U.S. Justice Department (Bureau of Justice Statistics) found that from 1995 to 2013, men represented 17% of victims of sexual assault and rape on college campuses, and 4% of non-campus sexual assaults and rapes.

LGBT

LGBT identifying individuals, with the exception of lesbian women, are more likely to experience sexual assault on college campuses than heterosexual individuals.

• 1 in 8 lesbian women and nearly 50% of bisexual women and men experience sexual assault in their lifetime.
• Nearly 4 in 10 gay men experience sexual violence in their lifetime.
• 64% of transgender people have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime.

Effects

• 3 times more likely to suffer from depression
• 6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder
• 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol
• 26 times more likely to abuse drugs
• 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide

The reporting of sexual assault:

• on average 68% of sexual assaults go unreported
• 98% of rapists will not spend time in jail

The assailants:
According to the U.S. Department of Justice 1997 Sex Offenses and Offenders Study,

• A rapist's age on average is 31 years old
• 52% of offenders are white
• 22% of rapists imprisoned report that they are married
• Juveniles accounted for 16% of forcible rape arrestees in 1995 and 17% of those arrested for other sex offenses

In 2001,

• 11% of rapes involved the use of a weapon
  • 3% used a gun
  • 6% used a knife
  • 2% used another form of weapon
• 84% of victims reported the use of physical force only

According to the U.S. Department of Justice 2005 National Crime Victimization Study

• About 2/3 of rapes were committed by someone known to the victim
• 73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger
• 38% of rapists are a friend or acquaintance
• 28% are an intimate partner
• 7% are a relative

College

Main article: Campus sexual assault

In the United States, several studies since 1987 have indicated that one in four college women have experienced rape or attempted rape at some point in their lifetime. These studies are based on anonymous surveys of college women, not reports to the police, and the results are disputed.

In 2015, Texas A&M University professor Jason Lindo and his colleagues analyzed over two decades worth of FBI data, noting that reports of rape increased 15-57% around the times of major American Football games at Division 1 schools while attempting to find a link between campus rape and alcohol.

A 2006 report from the U.S. Department of Justice titled "The Sexual Victimization of College Women" reports that 3.1% of undergraduates survived rape or attempted rape during a 6–7 month academic year with an additional 10.1% surviving rape prior to college and an additional 10.9% surviving attempted rape prior to college. With no overlap between these groups, these percentages add to 24.1%, or "One in Four".

Koss, Gidycz & Wisniewski published a study in 1987 where they interviewed approximately 6,000 college students on 32 college campuses nationwide. They asked several questions covering a wide range of behaviors. From this study 15% of college women answered "yes" to questions about whether they experienced something that met the definition of rape. An additional 12% of women answered "yes" to questions about whether they experienced something that met the definition of attempted rape, thus the statistic One in Four.

A point of contention lies in the leading nature of the questions in the study conducted by Koss, Gidycz & Wisniewski. Koss herself later admitted that the question that had garnered the largest "rape" result was flawed and ultimately rendered the study invalid. Most prominently the problem was that many respondents who had answered yes to several questions had their responses treated as having been raped. The issue being that these same respondents did not feel they had been victimized and never sought redress for grievances. The resultant change shows a prevalence of only 1 in 22 college women having been raped or attempted to be raped during their time at college.

In 1995, the CDC replicated part of this study, however they examined rape only, and did not look at attempted rape. They used a two-stage cluster sample design to produce a nationally representative sample of undergraduate college students aged greater than or equal to 18 years. The first-stage sampling frame contained 2,919 primary sampling units (PSUs), consisting of 2- and 4-year colleges and universities. The second sampling stage consisted of a random sample drawn from the primary sample unit frame enrolled in the 136 participating colleges and universities to increase the sample size to 4,609 undergraduate college students aged greater than or equal to 18 years old with a representative sample demographic matching the national demographic. Differential sampling rates of the PSU were used to ensure sufficient numbers of male and female, black and Hispanic students in the total sample population. After differential sample weighting, female students represented 55.5% of the sample; white students represented 72.8% of the sample, black students 10.3%, Hispanic students 7.1%, and 9.9% were other. It was determined that nationwide, 13.1% of college students reported that they had been forced to have sexual intercourse against their will during their lifetime. Female students were significantly more likely than male students to report they had ever been forced to have sexual intercourse; 20% of approximately 2500 females (55% of 4,609 samples) and 3.9% of males reported experiencing rape thus far in the course of their lifetime.

Other studies concerning the annual incidence of rape, some studies conclude an occurrence of 5%. The National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence found that in the 2013–2014 academic year, 4.6% of girls ages 14 – 17 experienced sexual assault or sexual abuse. In another study, Mohler-Kuo, Dowdall, Koss & Weschler (2004) found in a study of approximately 25,000 college women nationwide that 4.7% experienced rape or attempted rape during a single academic year. This study did not measure lifetime incidence of rape or attempted rape. Similarly, Kilpatrick, Resnick, Ruggiero, Conoscenti, & McCauley (2007) found in a study of 2,000 college women nationwide that 5.2% experienced rape every year.

On campuses, it has been found that alcohol is a prevalent issue in regards to sexual assault. It has been estimated that 1 in 5 women experience an assault and of those women 50%-75% have had either the attacker, the woman, or both consuming alcohol prior to the assault. Not only has it been a factor in the rates for sexual assault on campus, but because of the prevalence, assaults are also being affected specifically by the inability to give consent when intoxicated and bystanders not knowing when to intervene due to their own intoxication or the intoxication of the victim.

Children

Other research has found that about 80,000 American children are sexually abused each year.

By jurisdiction

Australia

Within Australia, the term sexual assault is used to describe a variation of sexual offences. This is due to a variety of definitions and use of terminology to describe sexual offences within territories and states as each territory and state have their own legislation to define rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, sexual penetration or intercourse without consent and sexual violence.

In the State of New South Wales, sexual assault is a statutory offence punishable under s 61I of the Crimes Act 1900. The term "sexual assault" is equivalent to "rape" in ordinary parlance, while all other assaults of a sexual nature are termed "indecent assault".

To be liable for punishment under the Crimes Act 1900, an offender must intend to commit an act of sexual intercourse as defined under s 61H(1) while having one of the states of knowledge of non-consent defined under s 61HA(3). But note that s 61HA(3) is an objective standard which only require the person has no reasonable grounds for believing the other person is consenting. The maximum penalty for sexual assault is 14 years imprisonment.

Aggravated sexual assault is sexual intercourse with another person without the consent of the other person and in circumstances of aggravation. The maximum penalty is imprisonment for 20 years under s 61J of the Crimes Act.

In the state of Victoria, rape is punishable under s 38 of the Crimes Act 1958, with a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment.

In the state of South Australia, rape is punishable under s 48 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (SA) with a maximum term of life imprisonment.

In the state of Western Australia, sexual penetration is punishable under s 325 the Criminal Code Act 1913 with a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment.

In the Northern Territory, offences of sexual intercourse and gross indecency without consent are punishable under s 192 of the Criminal Code Act 1983 and punishable with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

In Queensland, rape and sexual assault are punishable under s 349, Chapter 32 of the Criminal Code Act 1899 with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

In Tasmania, rape is punishable under s 185 of the Criminal Code Act 1924 with a maximum punishment of 21 years under s389 of the Criminal Code Act 1924.

In the Australian Capital Territory, sexual assault is punishable under Part 3 of the Crimes Act 1900 with a maximum punishment of 17 years.

Sexual assault is considered a gendered crime which results in 85% of sexual assaults never coming to the attention of the criminal justice system according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is due to low reporting rates, treatment of victims and distrust of the criminal justice system, difficulty in obtaining evidence and the belief in sexual assault myths.

However, once a person is charged, the public prosecutor will decide whether the case will proceed to trial based on whether there is sufficient evidence and whether a case is in the public interest. Once the matter has reached trial, the matter will generally be heard in the District Court. This is because sexually violent crimes are mostly categorised as indictable offences (serious offences), as opposed to summary offences (minor offences). Sexual offences can also be heard in the Supreme Court, but more generally if the matter is being heard as an appeal.

Once the matter is being heard, the prosecution must provide evidence which proves "beyond reasonable doubt" that the offence was committed by the defendant. The standard of proof is vital in checking the power of the State. While as previously stated that each jurisdiction (State and Territory) has its own sexual offence legislation, there are many common elements to any criminal offence that advise on how the offence is defined and what must be proven by the prosecution in order to find the defendant guilty. These elements are known as Actus Reus which comprises the physical element (see Ryan v Regina [1967]) and the Mens Rea which comprises the mental element (see He Kaw Teh (1985)).

Notable sexual assault cases which have resulted in convictions are Regina v Bilal Skaf [2005] and Regina v Mohommed Skaf [2005] which were highly visible in New South Wales within the media the 2000s. These cases were closely watched by the media and led to legislative changes such as the passing of the Crimes Amendment (Aggravated Sexual Assault in Company) Act 2001 No 62 which dramatically increased the sentences for 'gang rapists' by creating a new category of crime known as Aggravated Sexual Assault in Company. Changes were also made to the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999. This change is known as the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Amendment (Victim Impact Statements) Act 2004 No 3 which expands the category of offences in respect of which a Local Court may receive and consider Victim Impact Statements to include some indictable offences which are usually dealt with summarily.

Canada

Sexual assault is defined as sexual contact with another person without that other person's consent. Consent is defined in section 273.1(1) as "the voluntary agreement of the complainant to engage in the sexual activity in question".

Section 265 of the Criminal Code defines the offences of assault and sexual assault.

Section 271 criminalizes "Sexual assault", section 272 criminalizes "Sexual assault with a weapon, threats to a third party or causing bodily harm" and section 273 criminalizes "Aggravated sexual assault".

Consent

The absence of consent defines the crime of sexual assault. Section 273.1 (1) defines consent, section 273.1 (2) outlines certain circumstances where "no consent" is obtained, while section 273.1 (3) states that subsection (2) does not limit the circumstances where "no consent" is obtained (i.e. subsection (2) describes some circumstances which deem the act to be non-consensual, but other circumstances, not described in this section, can also deem the act as having been committed without consent). "No consent" to sexual assault is also subject to Section 265 (3), which also outlines several situations where the act is deemed non-consensual. In 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. J.A. interpreted the provisions below to find that a person must have an active mind during the sexual activity in order to consent, and that they cannot give consent in advance.

• Meaning of "consent"

273.1 (1) Subject to subsection (2) and subsection 265(3), "consent" means, for the purposes of sections 271, 272 and 273, the voluntary agreement of the complainant to engage in the sexual activity in question.

Where no consent obtained

(2) No consent is obtained, for the purposes of sections 271, 272 and 273, where (a) the agreement is expressed by the words or conduct of a person other than the complainant; (b) the complainant is incapable of consenting to the activity; (c) the accused induces the complainant to engage in the activity by abusing a position of trust, power or authority; (d) the complainant expresses, by words or conduct, a lack of agreement to engage in the activity; or (e) the complainant, having consented to engage in sexual activity, expresses, by words or conduct, a lack of agreement to continue to engage in the activity.

Subsection (2) not limiting

(3) Nothing in subsection (2) shall be construed as limiting the circumstances in which no consent is obtained.

• Section 265(3)

Consent

(3) For the purposes of this section, no consent is obtained where the complainant submits or does not resist by reason of (a) the application of force to the complainant or to a person other than the complainant; (b) threats or fear of the application of force to the complainant or to a person other than the complainant; (c) fraud; or (d) the exercise of authority.

In accordance with 265 (4) an accused may use the defence that he or she believed that the complainant consented, but such a defence may be used only when "a judge, if satisfied that there is sufficient evidence and that, if believed by the jury, the evidence would constitute a defence, shall instruct the jury when reviewing all the evidence relating to the determination of the honesty of the accused's belief, to consider the presence or absence of reasonable grounds for that belief"; furthermore according to section 273.2(b) the accused must show that he or she took reasonable steps in order to ascertain the complainant's consent, also 273.2(a) states that if the accused's belief steams from self-induced intoxication, or recklessness or wilful blindness than such belief is not a defence.

• 265 (4)

Accused's belief as to consent

(4) Where an accused alleges that he or she believed that the complainant consented to the conduct that is the subject-matter of the charge, a judge, if satisfied that there is sufficient evidence and that, if believed by the jury, the evidence would constitute a defence, shall instruct the jury, when reviewing all the evidence relating to the determination of the honesty of the accused's belief, to consider the presence or absence of reasonable grounds for that belief.

• Where belief in consent not a defence

273.2 It is not a defence to a charge under section 271, 272 or 273 that the accused believed that the complainant consented to the activity that forms the subject-matter of the charge, where (a) the accused's belief arose from the accused's

(i) self-induced intoxication, or

(ii) recklessness or wilful blindness; or (b) the accused did not take reasonable steps, in the circumstances known to the accused at the time, to ascertain that the complainant was consenting.

Supreme Court partial interpretation of "consent"

The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador jury ruled in favour of a defense that added to the interpretation of the consent laws. The defenses stated and the Jury was reminded by Justice Valerie Marshall:

• because a complainant is drunk does not diminish their capacity to consent.
• because a complainant cannot remember if they gave consent does not mean they could not have consented.

The coined phrase regarding this defense was "Moral vs. legal consent"

Germany

Before 1997, the definition of rape was: "Whoever compels a woman to have extramarital intercourse with him, or with a third person, by force or the threat of present danger to life or limb, shall be punished by not less than two years' imprisonment."

In 1997, a broader definition was adopted with the 13th criminal amendment, section 177–179, which deals with sexual abuse. Rape is generally reported to the police, although it is also allowed to be reported to the prosecutor or District Court.

The Strafgesetzbuch reads:

Section 177

Sexual assault by use of force or threats; rape

1. Whosoever coerces another person
   1. by force;
   2. by threat of imminent danger to life or limb; or
   3. by exploiting a situation in which the victim is unprotected and at the mercy of the offender,

   to suffer sexual acts by the offender or a third person on their own person or to engage actively in sexual activity with the offender or a third person, shall be liable to imprisonment of not less than one year.

2. In especially serious cases the penalty shall be imprisonment of not less than two years. An especially serious case typically occurs if
   1. the offender performs sexual intercourse with the victim or performs similar sexual acts with the victim, or allows them to be performed on himself by the victim, especially if they degrade the victim or if they entail penetration of the body (rape); or
   2. the offence is committed jointly by more than one person.

Subsections (3), (4) and (5) provide additional stipulations on sentencing depending on aggravating or mitigating circumstances.

Section 178 provides that "If the offender through sexual assault or rape (section 177) causes the death of the victim at least by gross negligence the penalty shall be imprisonment for life or not less than ten years."

Republic of Ireland

As in many other jurisdictions, the term sexual assault is generally used to describe non-penetrative sexual offences. Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) Act of 1981 states that a man has committed rape if he has sexual intercourse with a woman who at the time of the intercourse does not consent to it, and at that time he knows that she does not consent to the intercourse or he is reckless as to whether she does or does not consent to it. Under Section 4 of the Criminal Law (Rape Amendment) Act of 1990, rape means a sexual assault that includes penetration (however slight) of the anus or mouth by the penis or penetration (however slight) of the vagina by any object held or manipulated by another person. The maximum penalty for rape in Ireland is imprisonment for life.

South Africa

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act replaced the common-law offence of indecent assault with a statutory offence of sexual assault, defined in section 5 of the act as follows.

(1) A person ('"A") who unlawfully and intentionally sexually violates a complainant ("B"), without the consent of B, is guilty of the offence of sexual assault.

(2) A person ("A") who unlawfully and intentionally inspires the belief in a complainant ("B") that B will be sexually violated, is guilty of the offence of sexual assault.

The act's definition of "sexual violation" incorporates a number of sexual acts, including genital contact short of penetration as well as any contact with the mouth designed to cause sexual arousal. Non-consensual acts that involve actual penetration are included in the separate offence of rape rather than sexual assault.

The Act also created the offences of "compelled sexual assault", when a person forces a second person to commit an act of sexual violation with a third person; and "compelled self-sexual assault", when a person forces another person to masturbate or commit various other sexual acts on theirself.^[127]

United Kingdom

England and Wales

Sexual assault is a statutory offence in England and Wales. It is created by section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which defines "sexual assault" as when a person (A)

1. intentionally touches another person (B),
2. the touching is sexual,
3. B does not consent to the touching, and
4. A does not reasonably believe that B consents.

Whether a belief is reasonable is to be determined having regard to all the circumstances, including any steps A has taken to ascertain whether B consents.

Sections 75 and 76 apply to an offence under this section.

A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

1. on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both;
2. on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years.

Offences committed before the 2003 Act came into force are prosecuted under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 (or in theory earlier legislation), in particular indecent assault.

Consent

Section 74 of the Sexual Offenses Act explains that "a person consents if he agrees by choice and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice".

Section 75 provides a rebuttable presumption that there was no consent in case of violence, intimidation, unlawful imprisonment, unconsciousness, or physical disability or drugs that impair the ability to give consent.

Northern Ireland

Sexual assault is a statutory offence. It is created by article 7 of the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008. Sexual assault is defined as follows:

Sexual assault

(1) A person (A) commits an offence if—

(a) he intentionally touches another person (B),

(b) the touching is sexual,

(c) B does not consent to the touching, and

(d) A does not reasonably believe that B consents.

Scotland

Sexual assault is a statutory offence. It is created by section 3 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009. Sexual assault is defined as follows:

Sexual assault

(1) If a person ("A")—

(a) without another person ("B") consenting, and

(b) without any reasonable belief that B consents,

does any of the things mentioned in subsection (2), then A commits an offence, to be known as the offence of sexual assault.

(2) Those things are, that A—

(a) penetrates sexually, by any means and to any extent, either intending to do so or reckless as to whether there is penetration, the vagina, anus or mouth of B,

(b) intentionally or recklessly touches B sexually,

(c) engages in any other form of sexual activity in which A, intentionally or recklessly, has physical contact (whether bodily contact or contact by means of an implement and whether or not through clothing) with B,

(d) intentionally or recklessly ejaculates semen onto B,

(e) intentionally or recklessly emits urine or saliva onto B sexually.

United States

The United States Department of Justice defines sexual assault as "any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape."

Every U.S. state has its own code of laws, and thus the definition of conduct that constitutes a crime, including a sexual assault, may vary to some degree by state. Some states may refer to sexual assault as "sexual battery" or "criminal sexual conduct".

Texas

The Texas Penal Code, Sec. 22.011(a) defines sexual assault as

A person commits [sexual assault] if the person:

(1) intentionally or knowingly:

(A) causes the penetration of the anus or sexual organ of another person by any means, without that person's consent;

(B) causes the penetration of the mouth of another person by the sexual organ of the actor, without that person's consent; or

(C) causes the sexual organ of another person, without that person's consent, to contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor; or

(2) intentionally or knowingly:

(A) causes the penetration of the anus or sexual organ of a child by any means;

(B) causes the penetration of the mouth of a child by the sexual organ of the actor;

(C) causes the sexual organ of a child to contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor;

(D) causes the anus of a child to contact the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor; or

(E) causes the mouth of a child to contact the anus or sexual organ of another person, including the actor.

Shock and awe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_and_awe

Shock and awe (technically known as rapid dominance) is a military strategy based on the use of overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force to paralyze the enemy's perception of the battlefield and destroy their will to fight. Though the concept has a variety of historical precedents, the doctrine was explained by Harlan K. Ullman and James P. Wade in 1996 and was developed specifically for application by the US military by the National Defense University of the United States.

Doctrine of rapid dominance

Rapid dominance is defined by its authors, Harlan K. Ullman and James P. Wade, as attempting

to affect the will, perception, and understanding of the adversary to fight or respond to our strategic policy ends through imposing a regime of Shock and Awe.

Further, rapid dominance will, according to Ullman and Wade,

impose this overwhelming level of Shock and Awe against an adversary on an immediate or sufficiently timely basis to paralyze its will to carry on ... [to] seize control of the environment and paralyze or so overload an adversary's perceptions and understanding of events that the enemy would be incapable of resistance at the tactical and strategic levels.

Introducing the doctrine in a report to the United States' National Defense University in 1996, Ullman and Wade describe it as an attempt to develop a post-Cold War military doctrine for the United States. Rapid dominance and shock and awe, they write, may become a "revolutionary change" as the United States military is reduced in size and information technology is increasingly integrated into warfare. Subsequent U.S. military authors have written that rapid dominance exploits the "superior technology, precision engagement, and information dominance" of the United States.

Ullman and Wade identify four vital characteristics of rapid dominance:

1. near total or absolute knowledge and understanding of self, adversary, and environment;
2. rapidity and timeliness in application;
3. operational brilliance in execution; and
4. (near) total control and signature management of the entire operational environment.

The term "shock and awe" is most consistently used by Ullman and Wade as the effect that rapid dominance seeks to impose upon an adversary. It is the desired state of helplessness and lack of will. It can be induced, they write, by direct force applied to command and control centers, selective denial of information and dissemination of disinformation, overwhelming combat force, and rapidity of action.

The doctrine of rapid dominance has evolved from the concept of "decisive force". Ulman and Wade contrast the two concepts in terms of objective, use of force, force size, scope, speed, casualties, and technique.

Civilian casualties and destruction of infrastructure

Although Ullman and Wade claim that the need to "[m]inimize civilian casualties, loss of life, and collateral damage" is a "political sensitivity [which needs] to be understood up front", their doctrine of rapid dominance requires the capability to disrupt "means of communication, transportation, food production, water supply, and other aspects of infrastructure", and, in practice, "the appropriate balance of Shock and Awe must cause ... the threat and fear of action that may shut down all or part of the adversary's society or render his ability to fight useless short of complete physical destruction."

Using as an example a theoretical invasion of Iraq 20 years after Operation Desert Storm, the authors claimed, "Shutting the country down would entail both the physical destruction of appropriate infrastructure and the shutdown and control of the flow of all vital information and associated commerce so rapidly as to achieve a level of national shock akin to the effect that dropping nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had on the Japanese."

Reiterating the example in an interview with CBS News several months before Operation Iraqi Freedom, Ullman stated, "You're sitting in Baghdad and all of a sudden you're the general and 30 of your division headquarters have been wiped out. You also take the city down. By that I mean you get rid of their power, water. In 2, 3, 4, 5 days they are physically, emotionally and psychologically exhausted."

Historical applications

According to its original theorists, shock and awe renders an adversary unwilling to resist through overwhelming displays of power. Ullman cites the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Nagasaki is pictured) as an example of shock and awe.

Ullman and Wade argue that there have been military applications that fall within some of the concepts of shock and awe. They enumerate nine examples:

• Overwhelming force: The "application of massive or overwhelming force" to "disarm, incapacitate, or render the enemy militarily impotent with as few casualties to ourselves and to noncombatants as possible."
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The establishment of shock and awe through "instant, nearly incomprehensible levels of massive destruction directed at influencing society writ large, meaning its leadership and public, rather than targeting directly against military or strategic objectives even with relatively few numbers or systems."
• Massive bombardment: Described as "precise destructive power largely against military targets and related sectors over time."
• Blitzkrieg: The "intent was to apply precise, surgical amounts of tightly focused force to achieve maximum leverage but with total economies of scale."
• Sun Tzu: The "selective, instant beheading of military or societal targets to achieve shock and awe."
• Haitian example: This example (occasionally referred to as the Potemkin village example) refers to a martial parade staged in Haiti on behalf of the (then) colonial power France in the early 1800s in which the native Haitians marched a small number of battalions in a cyclical manner. This led the colonial power into the belief that the size of the native forces was large enough so as to make any military action infeasible.
• The Roman legions: "Achieving shock and awe rests in the ability to deter and overpower an adversary through the adversary's perception and fear of his vulnerability and our own invincibility."
• Decay and default: "The imposition of societal breakdown over a lengthy period, but without the application of massive destruction."

First Chechen War

Russia's military strategy in the First Chechen War, and particularly the Battle of Grozny, was described as "shock and awe."

Iraq War

Main article: 2003 invasion of Iraq

Buildup

Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, United States armed forces officials described their plan as employing shock and awe. But, Tommy Franks, commanding general of the invading forces, "had never cared for the use of the term 'shock and awe' " and "had not seen that effect as the point of the air offensive."

Conflicting pre-war assessments

Before its implementation, there was dissent within the Bush Administration as to whether the shock and awe plan would work. According to a CBS News report, "One senior official called it a bunch of bull, but confirmed it is the concept on which the war plan is based." CBS Correspondent David Martin noted that during Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan in the prior year, the U.S. forces were "badly surprised by the willingness of al Qaeda to fight to the death. If the Iraqis fight, the U.S. would have to throw in reinforcements and win the old fashioned way by crushing the Republican Guards, and that would mean more casualties on both sides."

Campaign

Continuous bombing began on March 19, 2003 as United States forces unsuccessfully attempted to kill Saddam Hussein with decapitation strikes. Attacks continued against a small number of targets until March 21, 2003, when, at 1700 UTC, the main bombing campaign of the US and their allies began. Its forces launched approximately 1,700 air sorties (504 using cruise missiles). Coalition ground forces had begun a "running start" offensive towards Baghdad on the previous day. Coalition ground forces seized Baghdad on April 5, and the United States declared victory on April 15. The term "shock and awe" is typically used to describe only the very beginning of the invasion of Iraq, not the larger war, nor the ensuing insurgency.

Conflicting post-war assessments

To what extent the United States fought a campaign of shock and awe is unclear as post-war assessments are contradictory. Within two weeks of the United States' victory declaration, on April 27, The Washington Post published an interview with Iraqi military personnel detailing demoralization and lack of command. According to the soldiers, Coalition bombing was surprisingly widespread and had a severely demoralizing effect. When United States tanks passed through the Iraqi military's Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard units outside Baghdad to Saddam's presidential palaces, it caused a shock to troops inside Baghdad. Iraqi soldiers said there was no organization intact by the time the United States entered Baghdad and that resistance crumbled under the presumption that "it wasn't a war, it was suicide."

In contrast, in an October 2003 presentation to the United States House Committee on Armed Services, staff of the United States Army War College did not attribute their performance to rapid dominance. Rather, they cited technological superiority and "Iraqi ineptitude". The speed of the coalition's actions ("rapidity"), they said, did not affect Iraqi morale. Further, they said that Iraqi armed forces ceased resistance only after direct force-on-force combat within cities.

According to National Geographic researcher Bijal Trivedi, "Even after several days of bombing the Iraqis showed remarkable resilience. Many continued with their daily lives, working and shopping, as bombs continued to fall around them. According to some analysts, the military's attack was perhaps too precise. It did not trigger shock and awe in the Iraqis and, in the end, the city was only captured after close combat on the outskirts of Baghdad."

Criticism of execution

According to The Guardian correspondent Brian Whitaker in 2003, "To some in the Arab and Muslim countries, Shock and Awe is terrorism by another name; to others, a crime that compares unfavourably with September 11." Anti-war protesters in 2003 also claimed that "the shock and awe pummeling of Baghdad [was] a kind of terrorism."

Casualties

A dossier released by Iraq Body Count, a project of the U.K. non-governmental non-violent and disarmament organization Oxford Research Group, attributed approximately 6,616 civilian deaths to the actions of U.S.-led forces during the "invasion phase", including the shock-and-awe bombing campaign on Baghdad.

These findings were disputed by both the U.S. military and the Iraqi government. Lieutenant Colonel Steve Boylan, the spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad, stated, "I don't know how they are doing their methodology and can't talk to how they calculate their numbers," as well as "we do everything we can to avoid civilian casualties in all of our operations." National Geographic researcher Bijal Trivedi stated, "Civilian casualties did occur, but the strikes, for the most part, were surgical."

In popular culture

Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US, the term "shock and awe" has been used for commercial purposes. The United States Patent and Trademark Office received at least 29 trademark applications in 2003 for exclusive use of the term. The first came from a fireworks company on the day the US started bombing Baghdad. Sony registered the trademark the day after the beginning of the operation for use in a video game title but later withdrew the application and described it as "an exercise of regrettable bad judgment."

In an interview, Harlan Ullman stated that he believed that using the term to try to sell products was "probably a mistake," and "the marketing value will be somewhere between slim and none.".

In the 2009 theatrical movie Avatar, the genocide attack on the Na'vi is described as a "Shock and Awe" campaign by doctor Max Patel.

In the 2011 theatrical film Battle: Los Angeles, the invasion by the alien force was described as using "rapid dominance" along the world's coastlines, including indiscriminate use of heavy ordnance.

A mission entitled 'Shock and Awe' in the video game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare concludes with the detonation of a nuclear warhead.

In the 2008 video game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, one of the songs in the soundtrack of the game is titled "Shock and Awe".

Epimenides paradox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epimenides_paradox

Epimenides from "Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum"

The Epimenides paradox reveals a problem with self-reference in logic. It is named after the Cretan philosopher Epimenides of Knossos (alive circa 600 BC) who is credited with the original statement. A typical description of the problem is given in the book Gödel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter:

Epimenides was a Cretan who made the immortal statement: "All Cretans are liars."

A paradox of self-reference arises when one considers whether it is possible for Epimenides to have spoken the truth.

Contents

• 1 Mythology of lying Cretans
• 2 Logical paradox
• 3 Origin of the phrase
• 4 Emergence as a logical contradiction
• 5 References by other authors
• 6 Notes
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Mythology of lying Cretans

According to Ptolemaeus Chennus, Thetis and Medea had once argued in Thessaly over which was the most beautiful; they appointed the Cretan Idomeneus as the judge, who gave the victory to Thetis.
In her anger, Medea called all Cretans liars, and cursed them to never say the truth.

Logical paradox

Thomas Fowler (1869) states the paradox as follows: "Epimenides the Cretan says, 'that all the Cretans are liars,' but Epimenides is himself a Cretan; therefore he is himself a liar. But if he is a liar, what he says is untrue, and consequently, the Cretans are veracious; but Epimenides is a Cretan, and therefore what he says is true; saying the Cretans are liars, Epimenides is himself a liar, and what he says is untrue. Thus we may go on alternately proving that Epimenides and the Cretans are truthful and untruthful."

The Epimenides paradox in this form, however, can be solved. There are two options: the first proposition is either true or false. First, assume that it is true, but then Epimenides, being a Cretan, would be a liar, and making the assumption that liars only make false statements, the proposition is false. So, assuming the proposition is true leads us to conclude that the statement is false. This is a contradiction, so the option of the proposition being true is not possible. This leaves the second option: that the proposition is false.

If we assume the statement is false and that Epimenides is lying about all Cretans being liars, then there must exist at least one Cretan who is honest. This does not lead to a contradiction since it is not required that this Cretan be Epimenides. This means that Epimenides can say the false statement that all Cretans are liars while knowing at least one honest Cretan and lying about this particular Cretan. Hence, from the assumption that the statement is false, it does not follow that the statement is true. So we can avoid a paradox as seeing the statement "all Cretans are liars" as a false statement, which is made by a lying Cretan, Epimenides. The mistake made by Thomas Fowler (and many other people) above is to think that the negation of "all Cretans are liars" is "all Cretans are honest" (a paradox) when in fact the negation is "there exists a Cretan who is honest", or "not all Cretans are liars". The Epimenides paradox can be slightly modified as to not allow the kind of solution described above, as it was in the first paradox of Eubulides but instead leading to a non-avoidable self-contradiction. Paradoxical versions of the Epimenides problem are closely related to a class of more difficult logical problems, including the liar paradox, Socratic paradox and the Burali-Forti paradox, all of which have self-reference in common with Epimenides. The Epimenides paradox is usually classified as a variation on the liar paradox, and sometimes the two are not distinguished. The study of self-reference led to important developments in logic and mathematics in the twentieth century.

In other words, it is not a paradox once one realizes "All Cretans are liars" being untrue only means "Not all Cretans are liars" instead of the assumption that "All Cretans are honest".

Perhaps better put, for "All Cretans are liars" to be a true statement, it does not mean that all Cretans must lie all the time. In fact, Cretans could tell the truth quite often, but still all be liars in the sense that liars are people prone to deception for dishonest gain. Considering that "All Cretans are liars" has been seen as a paradox only since the 19th century, this seems to resolve the alleged paradox. If 'all Cretans are continuous liars' is actually true, then asking a Cretan if they are honest would always elicit the dishonest answer 'yes'. So arguably the original proposition is not so much paradoxical as invalid.

A contextual reading of the contradiction may also provide an answer to the paradox. The original phrase, "The Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies!" asserts not an intrinsic paradox, but rather an opinion of the Cretans from Epimenides. A stereotyping of his people not intended to be an absolute statement about the people as a whole. Rather it is a claim made about their position regarding their religious beliefs and socio-cultural attitudes. Within the context of his poem the phrase is specific to a certain belief, a context that Callimachus repeats in his poem regarding Zeus. Further, a more poignant answer to the paradox is simply that to be a liar is to state falsehoods, nothing in the statement asserts everything said is false, but rather they're "always" lying. This is not an absolute statement of fact and thus we cannot conclude there's a true contradiction made by Epimenides with this statement.

Origin of the phrase

Epimenides was a 6th-century BC philosopher and religious prophet who, against the general sentiment of Crete, proposed that Zeus was immortal, as in the following poem:

They fashioned a tomb for thee, O holy and high one
The Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies!
But thou art not dead: thou livest and abidest forever,
For in thee we live and move and have our being.

— Epimenides, Cretica

Denying the immortality of Zeus, then, was the lie of the Cretans.

The phrase "Cretans, always liars" was quoted by the poet Callimachus in his Hymn to Zeus, with the same theological intent as Epimenides:

O Zeus, some say that thou wert born on the hills of Ida;
Others, O Zeus, say in Arcadia;
Did these or those, O Father lie? -- "Cretans are ever liars".
Yea, a tomb, O Lord, for thee the Cretans builded;
But thou didst not die, for thou art for ever.

— Callimachus, Hymn I to Zeus

Emergence as a logical contradiction

The logical inconsistency of a Cretan asserting all Cretans are always liars may not have occurred to Epimenides, nor to Callimachus, who both used the phrase to emphasize their point, without irony, perhaps meaning that all Cretans lie routinely, but not exclusively.

In the 1st century AD, the quote is mentioned by the author of the Epistle to Titus as having been spoken truly by "one of their own prophets."

"One of Crete's own prophets has said it: 'Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, idle bellies'.
He has surely told the truth. For this reason correct them sternly, that they may be sound in faith instead of paying attention to Jewish fables and to commandments of people who turn their backs on the truth."

— Epistle of Paul to Titus, 1:12–14

Clement of Alexandria, in the late 2nd century AD, fails to indicate that the concept of logical paradox is an issue:

In his epistle to Titus, Apostle Paul wants to warn Titus that Cretans don't believe in the one truth of Christianity, because "Cretans are always liars". To justify his claim, Apostle Paul cites Epimenides.

— Stromata 1.14

During the early 4th century, Saint Augustine restates the closely related liar paradox in Against the Academicians (III.13.29), but without mentioning Epimenides.

In the Middle Ages, many forms of the liar paradox were studied under the heading of insolubilia, but these were not explicitly associated with Epimenides.

Finally, in 1740, the second volume of Pierre Bayle's Dictionnaire Historique et Critique explicitly connects Epimenides with the paradox, though Bayle labels the paradox a "sophisme".

References by other authors

All of the works of Epimenides are now lost, and known only through quotations by other authors. The quotation from the Cretica of Epimenides is given by R.N. Longenecker, "Acts of the Apostles", in volume 9 of The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Frank E. Gaebelein, editor (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Corporation, 1976–1984), page 476. Longenecker in turn cites M.D. Gibson, Horae Semiticae X (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1913), page 40, "in Syriac". Longenecker states the following in a footnote:

The Syr. version of the quatrain comes to us from the Syr. church father Isho'dad of Merv (probably based on the work of Theodore of Mopsuestia), which J.R. Harris translated back into Gr. in Exp ["The Expositor"] 7 (1907), p 336.^[6]

An oblique reference to Epimenides in the context of logic appears in "The Logical Calculus" by W. E. Johnson, Mind (New Series), volume 1, number 2 (April, 1892), pages 235–250. Johnson writes in a footnote,

Compare, for example, such occasions for fallacy as are supplied by "Epimenides is a liar" or "That surface is red," which may be resolved into "All or some statements of Epimenides are false," "All or some of the surface is red."

The Epimenides paradox appears explicitly in "Mathematical Logic as Based on the Theory of Types", by Bertrand Russell, in the American Journal of Mathematics, volume 30, number 3 (July, 1908), pages 222–262, which opens with the following:

The oldest contradiction of the kind in question is the Epimenides. Epimenides the Cretan said that all Cretans were liars, and all other statements made by Cretans were certainly lies. Was this a lie?

In that article, Russell uses the Epimenides paradox as the point of departure for discussions of other problems, including the Burali-Forti paradox and the paradox now called Russell's paradox. Since Russell, the Epimenides paradox has been referenced repeatedly in logic. Typical of these references is Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter, which accords the paradox a prominent place in a discussion of self-reference.