The Aberdeen Scandal was a military sexual assault scandal in 1996 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, a United States Army base in Maryland.
Steven Raymond Christian is a politician, convicted sex offender and child rapist from the Pitcairn Islands. He was mayor of the islands from 1999 until 2004, when he was removed from office after being found guilty in the Pitcairn child sexual abuse trial.
Jacob William Hoggard is a former Canadian musician who was the lead singer for the pop rock band Hedley. Before Hedley was formed, Hoggard competed on the second season of Canadian Idol in 2004 when he placed third.
In 2004, seven men living on Pitcairn Island faced 55 charges relating to sexual offences against children and young adults. The accused represented a third of the island's male population and included Steve Christian, the mayor. On 24 October, all but one of the defendants were found guilty on at least some of the charges. Another six men living abroad, including Shawn Christian, who later served as mayor of Pitcairn, were tried on 41 charges in a separate trial in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2005.
A rape kit or rape test kit is a package of items used by medical, police or other personnel for gathering and preserving physical evidence following an instance or allegation of sexual assault. The evidence collected from the victim can aid the criminal rape investigation and the prosecution of a suspected assailant. DNA evidence can have tremendous utility for sexual assault investigations and prosecution by identifying offenders, revealing serial offenders through DNA matches across cases, and exonerating those who have been wrongly accused.
Roy Black is an American civil and criminal defense trial attorney, he is also a founding partner of Black Srebnick. He is a member of the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. He is known for his gaining an acquittal, in 1991, of William Kennedy Smith on charges of rape and for his representation of conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh. He gained the only acquittal at trial in the Varsity Blues scandal, that being Amin Khoury, and gained the acquittal of Miami police officer William Lozano in a highly publicized retrial, and whose killing of Clement Lloyd sparked the 1989 Miami riot. He further gained the acquittal of famed racer Hélio Castroneves and his sister on charges of income tax evasion.
Joan Little is an African-American woman who was charged with the 1974 murder of Clarence Alligood, a white prison guard at Beaufort County Jail in Washington, North Carolina, who attempted to rape Little before she could escape. Her case became a cause célèbre of the civil rights, feminist, and anti-death penalty movements. Little was the first woman in United States history to be acquitted using the defense that she used deadly force to resist sexual assault. Her case also has become classic in legal circles as a pioneering instance of the application of scientific jury selection.
Day-care sex-abuse hysteria was a moral panic that occurred primarily during the 1980s and early 1990s, and featured charges against day-care providers accused of committing several forms of child abuse, including Satanic ritual abuse. The collective cases are often considered a part of the Satanic panic. A 1982 case in Kern County, California, United States, first publicized the issue of day-care sexual abuse, and the issue figured prominently in news coverage for almost a decade. The Kern County case was followed by cases elsewhere in the United States, as well as Canada, New Zealand, Brazil, and various European countries.
Louise Nicholas is a New Zealand campaigner for the rights of women who have been victims of sexual violence. She has made rape allegations against at least nine men, including at least seven police officers. Although none of these allegations have been proven in court, they have resulted in several high-profile trials and an investigation into a possible police cover-up.
Mark Goudeau is an American serial killer, kidnapper, thief and rapist. Goudeau terrorized victims in the Phoenix metro area between August 2005 and June 2006; coincidentally, Goudeau was active at the same time as two other Phoenix serial killers, jointly known as the "Serial Shooters.”
The Kobe Bryant sexual assault case began on July 18, 2003, when the news media reported that the sheriff's office in Eagle, Colorado, had arrested then-professional basketball player Kobe Bryant in connection with an investigation of a sexual assault complaint, filed by a 19-year-old hotel employee.
Alton Coleman was an American serial killer who, along with accomplice Debra Brown, committed a crime spree across six states between May and July 1984 that resulted in the deaths of eight people. Coleman, who received death sentences in three states, was executed by the state of Ohio in 2002. Brown was sentenced to death in Ohio and Indiana, but the sentences were later reduced to life imprisonment without parole and 140 years, respectively.
This is a list of notable overturned convictions in the United States.
Brian James Dugan is an American convicted rapist and serial killer active between 1983 and 1985 in Chicago's western suburbs. He was known for having informally confessed in 1985 to the February 1983 abduction, rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville, Illinois, which was a highly publicized case. He was already in custody for two other rapes and murders, one of a woman in July 1984 and the other an 7-year-old girl in May 1985. He was sentenced to life after pleading guilty to the latter two crimes.
The murder of Leigh Leigh, born Leigh Rennea Mears, occurred on 3 November 1989 while she was attending a 16-year-old boy's birthday party at Stockton Beach, New South Wales, on the east coast of Australia. The 14-year-old girl from Fern Bay was assaulted by a group of boys after she returned distressed from a sexual encounter on the beach that a reviewing judge later called non-consensual. After being kicked and spat on by the group, Leigh left the party. Her naked body was found in the sand dunes nearby the following morning, with severe genital damage and a crushed skull.
Rodney James Alcala was an American serial killer and sex offender who was sentenced to death in California for five murders committed between 1977 and 1979. He also pleaded guilty and received a sentence of 25 years to life for two further murders committed in New York and was also indicted for a murder in Wyoming, although charges were dropped due to a technicality. While he has been conclusively linked to eight murders, Alcala's true number of victims remains unknown and could be as high as 130.
This is a list of notable overturned convictions in Canada.
In late 2014, multiple allegations emerged that Bill Cosby, an American media personality, had sexually assaulted dozens of women throughout his career. Cosby was well known in the United States for his eccentric image, and gained a reputation as "America's Dad" for his portrayal of Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show (1984–1992). He received numerous awards and honorary degrees throughout his career, many of which have since been revoked. There had been previous allegations against Cosby, but they were dismissed and accusers were ignored or disbelieved.
After a sexual assault or rape, victims are often subjected to scrutiny and, in some cases, mistreatment. Victims undergo medical examinations and are interviewed by police. If there is a criminal trial, victims suffer a loss of privacy, and their credibility may be challenged. Victims may also become the target of slut-shaming, abuse, social stigmatization, sexual slurs and cyberbullying. These factors, contributing to a rape culture, are among some of the reasons that may contribute up to 80% of all rapes going unreported in the U.S, according to a 2016 study done by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Taking Back My Life: The Nancy Ziegenmeyer Story is a 1992 American made-for-television drama film about a rape victim who spoke out about her experiences and raised awareness of the fact that rape and sexual assault are never the victim's fault.
