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Jane Doe (Toronto)
In 1998, after an 11 year court battle, the woman known as Jane Doe successfully sued the Toronto Canada police force for negligence and gender discrimination in the investigation of her rape by a serial rapist dubbed the “balcony rapist”.[1]
In her trial ruling Madame Justice Jean McFarland found that the police owed a duty of care to the women in Jane Doe's neighbourhood and that they "utterly failed in their duty to protect these women”. She concluded that the police investigation was "irresponsible and grossly negligent". She further wrote that “rape myths and sexist stereotypes about women impeded their investigation.” Judge MacFarland also held that the police had violated Jane Doe's equality rights, as well as her constitutional right to security of the person. Jane Doe was awarded $220,000 in damages.[2]
In Canada, a publication ban, also referred to as a media ban, is granted to sexually assaulted women whose cases are heard at trial.[3] The purpose is to spare women from the shame and stigma associated with sexual assault and to encourage them to report those crimes. Jane Doe continues to use the anonymity the publication ban offers. She writes and lectures under that name.
Jane Doe’s case set legal precedent and is taught in every law school in Canada as well as internationally. She set additional precedent when, in 1987 she fought for and won the right to her own legal counsel in the trial of the balcony rapist. As a result, she was allowed to remain in the courtroom and was privy to evidence which prompted her civil suit against the police
Her book, The Story of Jane Doe, published by Random House in 2003 was nominated for numerous literary awards and is on the curricula of university, college and high school courses internationally. It will be reissued by Second Story Press in the fall of 2015. A television movie about her case “The Many Trials of One Jane Doe” has been purchased and telecast in dozens of countries including the Lifetime Network in the US and the BBC in Britain.[4]
Jane Doe has continued her work in addressing sexual assault and has conducted and published research on the use and efficacy of: the publication ban in sexual assault trials[5] and the sexual assault evidence kit (rape kit)[6]. In 2009, she co-ordinated an international conference on sexual assault which generated three volumes of cutting edge research and opinion on the crime, it’s social effects and the effects on women’s equality.[7]
Jane Doe currently lectures and teaches about sexual assault.
- ^ "Jane Doe v Metropolitan Toronto Police (1998)" (39 OR (3d) 487, 160 DLR (4th) 697 (Ont Ct Gen Div)).
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Caselaw Canada http://caselaw.canada.globe24h.com/0/0/ontario/superior-court-of-justice/1998/07/03/doe-v-metropolitan-toronto-municipality-commissioners-of-police-1998-14826-on-sc.shtml. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Canadian Criminal Code. section 486.4(1)(a)(i).
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "The Many Trials of Jane Doe".
- ^ Kerr, Ian (2009). "What's In a Name? Who Benefits from the Publication Ban in Sexual Assault Trials?" (PDF). Lessons From the Identity Trail. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
- ^ Sheehy, Elizabeth (2012). "Who Benefits from the Sexual Assault Evidence Kit?". Sexual Assault in Canada: Law, Legal Practice and Women’s Advocacy.
- ^ Doe, Jane. "They were". Canadian Women’s Studies Journal. 28 (Canadian Journal of Women and the Law).