In 2015, the American
Law Institute (ALI) sought to redefine the Model Penal Code’s definition of
rape. To date, ALI’s membership has failed to reach consensus. They are not
alone in struggling to define the crime of rape. State and federal actors have
struggled with questions of how to define rape and how (or even whether) to
construct processes around the crime. This panel considers these efforts in the
era of the #MeToo movement, which has highlighted the prevalence of workplace
sexual harassment, sexual assault, and attitudes that condone and promulgate
this behavior. While not all of the behavior #MeToo addresses falls within
proposed definitions of rape, the larger social norms the movement challenges
nonetheless influence how criminal law defines the crime of rape. This panel
will consider how #MeToo has changed the questions that legislators, police
officers, practitioners, and scholars ask when considering the crime of rape.