Despite widespread reforms to legislation and policy, rape complainants still find cross-exam- ination distressing, demeaning and humiliating. We conducted a systematic and holistic examination of cross-examination strategies to discern: (1) the range of tactics that defence lawyers use to challenge rape complainants’ accounts; and (2) whether—and if so, how—the approaches used currently differ from those used prior to the reforms. We compared the strate-gies and tactics used in cases that were prosecuted in the 1950s to those used in cases from the turn of the twenty-first century. Although contemporary complainants were subjected to lengthier cross-examinations involving a broader range of tactics than their historical counterparts, there was little difference in the breakdown of strategies and tactics across time periods.

中文翻译：

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律师交叉询问强奸投诉人的策略：我们是否已经超越了 1950 年代？

尽管对立法和政策进行了广泛的改革，强奸投诉者仍然认为盘问令人痛苦、贬低和羞辱。我们对盘问策略进行了系统和全面的检查，以辨别：(1) 辩护律师用来质疑强奸投诉人陈述的策略范围；(2) 目前使用的方法是否——如果是，如何——与改革前使用的方法不同。我们将 1950 年代被起诉的案件中使用的策略和策略与 21 世纪之交的案件中使用的策略和策略进行了比较。尽管与历史上的投诉人相比，当代投诉人受到的盘问时间更长，涉及的策略范围更广，但不同时期的策略和策略分解几乎没有什么不同。