The Victim as ‘Other’: Analysis of the Language of Acquittal Decisions in Sexual Offences in the Israeli Supreme Court

Abstract

Between the years January 1988 and May 1993, the Supreme Court of Israel2 heard the appeals of 564 defendants who had been tried for violent offences by various District courts. While some appeals were accepted and sentences reduced or increased,3 only twelve defendants were completely acquitted by the Supreme Court: ten defendants in eight different cases had their convictions overturned by the Supreme Court, while two others, whose acquittal had been appealed by the State, had their acquittals affirmed. All the victims in these cases in which the defendants were acquitted were in some way marginal figures, and half dealt with sexual offences. It is the purpose of this chapter to examine the language of the judicial decisions in two cases of acquittals of sexual assault. I will analyse the ways in which the language of the decisions constructs the victim as ‘other’. I will argue that the characterisation of the victim as ‘other’ is an important part of the rhetorical strategy used by judges in justifying their decision to acquit.