Sexual History Evidence and Law Reform

There is an urgent need to reform the law relating to the use of sexual history evidence in rape and sexual assault trials. In my research, I set out:

• the reasons why restrictions on sexual history evidence are needed;
• the evidence we have as to how often sexual history evidence is used in sexual offence trials;
• why the Court of Appeal judgment in R v Ched Evans is problematic; and
• detailed recommendations for reform of the law.

A research briefing is available which summarises the key points.