The offence of sexual assault has been reformed significantly since the 1980s. These reforms have been designed to create a fairer criminal justice system and contribute to primary prevention through community education. Yet, how exactly does this education happen? This article draws on a qualitative interview study with government and non-government stakeholders in the Australian State of NSW to consider how members of the public are equipped with the information they need to understand the laws that govern their sexual lives. Despite multiple educational pathways on key legal concepts such as consent, the study found a knowledge gap between the legal meaning of sexual assault and effective public access to that meaning. The article concludes with recommendations for addressing the barriers that undergird this gap. It argues that law’s educative promise depends on the state’s preparedness to create policy that fosters the public’s appreciation of the sexual standards embedded in legal rules.

中文翻译：

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性侵犯法和社区教育：澳大利亚新南威尔士州的案例研究

自 1980 年代以来，性侵犯罪已发生重大改革。这些改革旨在创建更公平的刑事司法系统，并通过社区教育促进初级预防。然而，这种教育究竟是如何发生的？本文借鉴了对澳大利亚新南威尔士州政府和非政府利益相关者的定性访谈研究，以考虑公众如何获得他们所需的信息，以了解管理其性生活的法律。尽管在同意等关键法律概念上有多种教育途径，但该研究发现，性侵犯的法律含义与公众有效获取该含义之间存在知识差距。本文最后提出了解决造成这一差距的障碍的建议。