By Danny Fenster
ticklethewire.com
After much talk, an FBI subcommittee made recommendations Tuesday to update the definition of rape for the first time in 80 years.
The recommendations came out of a meeting in Baltimore by a subcommittee of law enforcement officials and will head next to an advisory panel, reports the Baltimore Sun. The advisory panel is expected to sign off on them, and they will then be submitted to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III for approval. Details of the recommendations could not be verified at this point.
The FBI has to this point gone by their original 1927 definition of rape: “the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will.” Womens’ Rights groups and others have criticized the definition as too narrow, excluding anal or oral penetration, male rape and incidents where force is not used.
“This is a huge step forward in accurately reflecting the true number of rapes that are occurring in our country,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a law enforcement policy think tank. Wexler told the Sun that 80 percent of police chiefs agreed the definition was outdated.
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