Opinion ID: 1495306
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The trial court's refusal to give the required instruction.

Text: By its refusal to give the instruction on corroboration mandated by the case law of this jurisdiction the trial court defied established precedent [5] which, of course, was error. But, in our opinion, this calculated error was not of constitutional proportions. [6] Moreover, we have found nothing in the record which gives us reason to believe that the jury would have been influenced to a different result had the instruction been given. See Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946). The command of D.C.Code 1973, § 11-721(e) is that we disregard any nonconstitutional error which does not affect a substantial right of the accused. See in this connection Milton v. Wainwright, 407 U.S. 371, 92 S.Ct. 2174, 33 L.Ed.2d 1 (1972); Schneble v. Florida, 405 U.S. 427, 92 S.Ct. 1056, 31 L.Ed.2d 340 (1972); Harrington v. California, 395 U.S. 250, 254, 89 S.Ct. 1726, 23 L.Ed.2d 284 (1969); Hawkins v. United States, D.C.App., 304 A.2d 279 (1973); United States v. Lee, 160 U.S.App.D.C. 118, 489 F.2d 1242 (1973). As the court observed in United States v. Compagna, 146 F.2d 524, 528 (2d Cir. 1944), cert. denied, 324 U.S. 867, 65 S.Ct. 912, 89 L.Ed. 1422 (1945): [W]hile lapses should be closely scrutinized, when it appears with certainty that no harm has been done, it would be the merest pedantry to insist upon procedural regularity. . . . See also People v. Rincon-Pineda, 14 Cal. 3d 864, 123 Cal.Rptr. 119, 538 P.2d 247 (1975), a case directly on point in which the court sustained a conviction for rape holding that the trial court's refusal to give the required instruction on corroboration was harmless error where: the evidence clearly points to the defendant's guilt, or . . . the testimony of the prosecuting witness is amply corroborated, or there are other factors in the case which show that the defendant has been given a fair trial. [ Id., 123 Cal.Rptr. at 125, 538 P.2d at 253.] Satisfied that appellant had a fair and impartial trial and that the trial court's refusal to give the required instruction did not affect any substantial right, we conclude that the error was harmless. Schneble v. Florida, supra . Nevertheless, the government terming the corroboration requirement an irrational and anachronistic concept, would have this court abrogate it in the District of Columbia court system. In People v. Rincon-Pineda, supra , reversible error was claimed because of the trial court's refusal to give the cautionary instruction mandated by California case law in sex cases. [7] The California Supreme Court first traced the origin of the instruction to dicta in the writings of Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, 1671-1676, and the development of the concept in California law concluding that: [W]e find nothing in Hale's writings to suggest that, as a matter of course, juries should be instructed that those who claim to be victims of sexual offenses are presumptively entitled to less credence than those who testify as the alleged victims of other crimes. The credibility of a witness, by Hale's lights as by ours, is to be determined by the circumstances of the alleged crime and the narration of it by the witness, and these circumstances vary markedly from case to case. [ Id., 123 Cal.Rptr. at 128, 538 P.2d at 256.] Comparing the position of a defendant charged with a sex offense in the United States today with that of one so charged in 17th century England, the court pointed out: The fundamental precepts of due process, that an accused is presumed innocent and is to be acquitted unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt . . . were recognized as desiderata in Hale's era but had yet to crystallize into rights.. . . The rights of an accused to present witnesses in his defense and to compel their attendance, subsequently enshrined in the Sixth Amendment, were barely nascent in the 17th century. . . Most importantly of all, in the context of a rape case, one accused of a felony in Hale's day had no right whatsoever to the assistance of counsel . . . while today he is constitutionally entitled to such assistance regardless of his personal means . . .. [Citations omitted.] [ Id., 123 Cal.Rptr. at 128, 538 P.2d at 256-57.] The court then disapproved any further use of the cautionary instruction in California sex cases, saying: Whatever might have been its historical significance, the disapproved instruction now performs no just function, since criminal charges involving sexual conduct are no more easily made or harder to defend against than many other classes of charges, and those who make such accusations should be deemed no more suspect in credibility than any other class of complainants. When such prosecutions present close evidentiary questions, they do so not because a victim  generally a woman  claims to have been sexually assaulted or abused, but because the alleged crime took place in evanescent circumstances difficult to reconstruct in court, a happenstance which may plague prosecution of any crime involving specific intent, and which is indeed a typical occurrence in such non-sexual crimes as fraud and narcotics transactions. A cautionary instruction bred in the circumstances of 17th century criminal rape and criminal justice need not be disinterred in a contemporary . . . courtroom in order to insure that a defendant faced essentially by a single accuser will not be casually convicted without due consideration of the relative weight of the evidence. [ Id., 123 Cal.Rptr. at 132, 538 P.2d at 260.] Of course, as we pointed out above, the rule of decision in the District of Columbia has been that any such case be submitted to the jury with specific instructions requiring a finding of independent evidence corroborative of the victim's testimony as a condition precedent to a guilty verdict. We notice, in this connection, that such a requirement was unknown to the common law [8] and that the courts of this jurisdiction have never stated nor assumed that it stemmed from any constitutional or statutory provisions. [9] See D.C. Code 1973, § 49-301. Because of the adequacy of the constitutional protections available to every defendant in a sex case, we are persuaded that the requirement of corroboration of the victims' testimony presently serves no legitimate purpose. As Dean Wigmore has pointed out: . . . a rule of law requiring corroboration has probably little actual influence upon the jurors' minds over and above the ordinary caution and suspicion which would naturally suggest itself for such charges; and the rule thus tends to become in practice merely a means of securing from the trial judge the utterance of a form of words which may chance to be erroneous and to lay the foundation for a new trial. Finally, the purpose of the rule is already completely attained by the judge's power to set aside a verdict upon insufficient evidence, and under this power verdicts are constantly set aside, in jurisdictions having no statutory rule, upon the same evidence which in other jurisdictions would be insufficient under the statutory rule requiring corroboration. The fact is that, in the light of modern psychology, this technical rule of corroboration seems but a crude and childish measure, if it be relied upon as an adequate means for determining the credibility of the complaining witness in such charges. . . . [7 Wigmore, Evidence § 2061 at 354 (3d ed. 1940).] See in addition, Report of the District of Columbia Public Safety Committee Task Force on Rape (July 9, 1973), at 51-5. Note, The Rape Corroboration Requirement: Repeal not Reform, 81 Yale L.J. 1365 (1972). Report and Proposals Regarding Rape and Rape Victims in the District of Columbia (Dec. 16, 1974), at 21-3. Rape and Rape Laws: Sexism in Society and Law, 61 Calif.L.Rev. 919 (1973). See also the expression of congressional concern in the Criminal Justice Codification, Revision and Reform Act of 1974, introduced by the 93d Cong., 1st Sess. as S. 1. By Sec. 1646(a) of that bill, it is provided that in certain enumerated sex cases, including rape, proof beyond a reasonable doubt is sufficient for conviction. Corroboration of the victim's testimony is not required. We reject, therefore, the notion given currency so long in this jurisdiction, that the victim of rape and other sex related offenses is so presumptively lacking in credence that corroboration of her testimony is required to withstand a motion for a judgment of acquittal. Accordingly, we mandate that in the future no instruction directed specifically to the credibility of any mature female victim of rape or its lesser included offenses and the necessity for corroboration of her testimony shall be required or given in the trial of any such case in the District of Columbia court system. While we abrogate the requirement in future rape and lesser included sex related cases, insofar as mature females may be involved, we caution that crucial in the trial of any such case in the issue of credibility particularly when there is a claim of provoked or consentaneous participation. See Johnson v. United States, supra . In the cases at bar the jury was instructed on the issue of credibility in the language of the Criminal Jury Instructions for the District of Columbia, 2d Ed., D.C. Bar Ass'n (1972) Instruction 2.11, Credibility of Witnesses, with modifications deemed appropriate by the trial court. The substance of that instruction should be given with such elaboration as may be indicated as a bare minimum in future sex cases. Johnson v. United States, supra . See also People v. Rincon-Pineda, supra . Appellant urges, however, on the authority of a concurring opinion in United States v. Wiley, 160 U.S.App.D.C. 281, 492 F.2d 547 (1973), that if the corroboration rule is to be changed, the responsibility for making the change should be exclusively with the Congress. [10] But the short answer to this is, as we have pointed out, the requirement is neither the creature of the common law nor of the Congress. It was judicially imposed and we know of no good reason why, in exercise of our supervisory jurisdiction, we should not now purge from our jurisprudence the requirement and all of its demeaning implications. In view of these dispositions of the corroboration issues, we need not pass upon appellant's challenge to the jury verdicts [11] except to say as did the court in Johnson v. United States, supra, 138 U.S.App.D.C. at 178, 426 F.2d at 655: It is a rare case indeed, when twelve jurors believe and the trial judge who also saw and heard, fails to exercise his power to set the verdict aside, that an appellate court ought to intervene. That authority is a reserve power to be used only to prevent manifest injustice. . . [Emphasis in original.] Affirmed. NEBEKER, Associate Judge (concurring in the result). I concur in the result and the directive to eliminate for the future the need for proof of corroboration in rape and lesser included offenses where the victim is a mature woman. On the question of who is an adult female. I believe it is correct to say that my colleagues agree that chronological age is not the only touchstone. Surely we ought not draw the age at sixteen  the age under which nonconsent is presumed in rape under D.C.Code 1973, § 22-2801, and also the age limit under D.C.Code 1973, § 22-3501 (indecent acts on children). While eighteen years of age may be considered majority, there might be some cases where the victim, though chronologically an adult, may be in reality as immature as a child. Whatever the cause, e. g., mental retardation or other condition of social immaturity militating against independent credibility, such women may well be viewed as children for purposes of requiring corroboration. ( Wilson v. United States, 106 U.S.App.D.C. 226, 271 F.2d 492 (1959).) These issues we cannot now resolve with a broad-brush approach. In my view, considerable latitude should rest with the trial court to require corroboration in some instances where the victim is not a mature woman. The importance of our supervisory holding for future trials ( Winters v. United States, D.C.App., 317 A.3d 530, 532 (1974)) is not only in abolishing the corroboration instruction, but also in eliminating the requirement that corroborative evidence is necessary to withstand a motion for judgment of acquittal. In this case the corroboration issue arose only in the context of the instructional request. Over objection, the trial judge admitted evidence viewed as corroborative and then denied a motion for judgment of acquittal. The issue of the need for adequate corroboration was not addressed on this motion. Being convinced that a miscarriage of justice through conviction of an innocent man has not occurred, I do not consider reversal and acquittal to be warranted. See Richardson v. United States, D.C.App., 276 A.2d 237, 238 (1971); Battle v. United States, 92 U.S.App.D.C. 220, 221, 206 F.2d 440, 441 (1953). I also concur in our harmless error holding for no different result can reasonably be foreseen had a corroboration instruction been given. . . . Judicious application of the harmless-error rule does not require that we indulge assumptions of irrational jury behavior when a perfectly rational explanation for the jury's verdict, completely consistent with [proper] instructions, stares us in the face. See Rogers v. Missouri Pacific R. Co., 352 U.S. 500, 504-505, 77 S.Ct. 443, 447, 1 L.Ed.2d 493 [498] (1957). [ Schneble v. Florida, 405 U.S. 427, 431-32, 92 S.Ct. 1056, 1059, 31 L.E.3d 340 (1972).] See Drew v. United States, 118 U.S.App.D. C. 11, 15 n. 7, 16, 331 F.2d 85, 89 n. 7, 90 (1964); State v. Moore, 278 So.2d 781, 787 n. 6 (La.1972). See also Fed.R. Evidence 404(b); Uniform R. Evidence 404(b); and United States v. Wilkerson, D.C.Cir.,No. 75-1111, decided April 27, 1976. FICKLING, Associate Judge, with whom KELLY, KERN and GALLAGHER, Associate Judges, join, concurring in part and dissenting in part: The court today affirms appellant's rape convictions even though the trial judge, intentionally disregarding controlling precedent in this jurisdiction, refused to instruct the jury that corroboration of complainants' testimony was a prerequisite to appellant's conviction. While I agree that the corroboration requirement in rape cases [1] should be eliminated in all future prosecutions, today's decision to abolish the corroboration requirement should not be retroactively applied to this case. Appellant's convictions should be reversed and the case remanded for a new trial in which appellant would be entitled to an instruction on the need for corroboration of complainants' testimony. Concluding that the trial judge's refusal to instruct on the corroboration requirement did not reach constitutional proportions, the majority treats this allegedly nonconstitutional error as harmless on the theory that the trial judge's refusal to give the instruction did not affect a substantial right. See D.C.Code 1973, § 11-721(e). In my view, the refusal to instruct on the corroboration requirement deprived appellant of a substantial right to which he was clearly entitled. It has long been the rule in this jurisdiction that in prosecutions for rape and related sex crimes, corroboration of the complainant's testimony is an indispensible prerequisite to conviction. E. g., In re W. E. P., D.C.App., 318 A.2d 286 (1974); United States v. Terry, 137 U.S.App.D.C. 267, 422 F.2d 704 (1970); Coltrane v. United States, 135 U.S.App.D.C. 295, 418 F.2d 1131 (1969); Borum v. United States, 133 U.S.App.D.C. 147, 409 F.2d 433 (1967), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 916, 89 S.Ct. 1765, 23 L.Ed.2d 230 (1969). The uncorroborated testimony of the complaining witness is insufficient to establish the corpus delicti of the offense. Konvalinka v. United States, D.C.Mun.App., 162 A.2d 778 (1960), aff'd 109 U.S.App.D.C. 307, 287 F.2d 346 (1961); Allison v. United States, 133 U.S.App.D.C. 159, 409 F.2d 445 (1969); Calhoun v. United States, 130 U.S. App.D.C. 266, 399 F.2d 999 (1968); Wilson v. United States, 106 U.S.App.D.C. 226, 271 F.2d 492 (1959). The corroboration requirement in sex crimes is therefore an essential ingredient of the case. United States v. Bryant, 137 U.S.App.D.C. 124, 129, 420 F.2d 1327, 1332 (1969). The accused is entitled to a judgment of acquittal as a matter of law if the government fails to present evidence corroborating the complainant's testimony. United States v. Bryant, supra ; Allison v. United States, supra ; Walker v. United States, 96 U.S.App.D.C. 148, 223 F.2d 613 (1955). The adequacy of corroboration in sex cases, like any other question as to the legal sufficiency of the evidence, is initially a matter for determination by the trial court. It is the responsibility of the trial judge to decide whether the corroborative evidence is legally sufficient to warrant submission of the case to the jury. Evans v. United States, D.C.App., 299 A.2d 136 (1973); United States v. Terry, supra ; Coltrane v. United States, supra ; Borum v. United States, supra . Thus, whether the corroborative evidence is legally sufficient to enable a reasonable mind to conclude guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is a preliminary question of law for the trial court. Washington v. United States, 136 U.S.App.D.C. 54, 419 F.2d 636 (1969). However, the jury must still bear the major responsibility for determining the adequacy of the corroborative evidence. It is the jury's function to decide whether the complainant's testimony was actually corroborated by the evidence. Evans v. United States, supra ; United States v. Terry, supra ; Coltrane v. United States, supra ; Borum v. United States, supra . The case must therefore be sent to the jury with instructions making clear that a guilty verdict may not be based solely on the complainant's testimony. Evans v. United States, supra ; Borum v. United States, supra . The trial court is required to instruct the jury that corroboration of the complainant's testimony is essential and that it is their responsibility, as jurors, to determine whether there was adequate corroboration of the complainant's testimony. United States v. Bryant, supra . It is the majority's position that the trial judge's conceded error was harmless since the error did not deprive appellant of a substantial right. See Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946). The majority maintains that the refusal to instruct did not prejudice appellant because there was adequate corroboration of complainants' testimony and because there was nothing in the record which would have influenced the jury to reach a different result if the instruction had been given. In my view, the majority is clearly wrong and the admitted error was clearly prejudicial under the standard formulated in Kotteakos v. United States, supra . D.C.Code 1973, § 11-721(e), provides that this court is under a duty in criminal as well as civil cases to disregard errors which do not affect substantial rights of the parties. In Kotteakos v. United States, supra , the Supreme Court, construing a similar statute, specifically rejected the argument that error is harmless simply because the evidence is legally sufficient to sustain the conviction. The Court there held that it is impossible to conclude that a substantial right was not affected unless one can say, with fair assurance, that the verdict was not substantially swayed by the error. In Weiler v. United States, 323 U. S. 606, 65 S.Ct. 548, 89 L.Ed. 495 (1945), the Court held that, in a prosecution for perjury, it was prejudicial error for the trial judge, when properly requested, to refuse to instruct the jury that the uncorroborated testimony of a single witness was insufficient to establish that the defendant's sworn testimony was false. The Court stated: It is argued that this error did not prejudice the defendant. We cannot say that it did not. The jury convicted without being instructed that more than the testimony of a single witness was required to justify their verdict. . . . We are not authorized to look at the printed record, resolve conflicting evidence, and reach the conclusion that the error was harmless because we think the defendant was guilty. That would be to substitute our judgment for that of the jury and, under our system of justice, juries alone have been entrusted with that responsibility.. . . [323 U.S. at 611, 65 S.Ct. at 551.] While the evidence in this case may have been legally sufficient to carry the case to the jury, this court cannot say, with fair assurance, that the trial court's refusal to instruct on the corroboration requirement was harmless error because it thinks the appellant was guilty. It is not the function of an appellate court to determine guilt or innocence upon its own review of the record. That judgment is reserved exclusively for the jury, and the court cannot substitute its own subjective evaluation of the evidence for the trial judge's refusal to instruct that corroboration was required this court cannot assume that of the jury. In the face of the trial judge's refusal to instruct that corroboration was required, this court cannot assume that the jury found that complainants' testimony was adequately corroborated. [2] See Brotherhood of Carpenters v. United States, 330 U.S. 395, 67 S.Ct. 775, 91 L.Ed. 973 (1947); Bihn v. United States, 328 U.S. 633, 66 S. Ct. 1172, 90 L.Ed. 1484 (1946); Bruno v. United States, 308 U.S. 287, 60 S.Ct. 198, 84 L.Ed. 257 (1939). Nor can we say that if the instruction had been given, appellant would have been found guilty, since the corroborative evidence in one of the cases was weak. Accordingly, under the standard established in Kotteakos v. United States, supra , the trial judge's refusal to instruct on the need for corroboration was prejudicial error. Moreover, the majority's affirmance of appellant's convictions, based on its present decision to abolish the corroboration rule, may reach constitutional proportions. By upholding appellant's convictions despite the trial judge's failure to comply with prevailing law, this court overrules a long line of cases in this jurisdiction requiring a corroboration instruction in prosecutions for sex crimes. This retroactive application of the decision to abolish the corroboration requirement in the instant case operates exactly like an ex post facto law, which the Constitution forbids. U. S.Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 3. An ex post facto law has been defined as [e]very law that alters the legal rules of evidence, and receives less, or different, testimony, than the law required at the time of the commission of the offense, in order to convict the offender. Calder v. Bull, 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 386, 390, 1 L.Ed. 648, 650 (1798). See Malloy v. South Carolina, 237 U.S. 180, 35 S.Ct. 507, 59 L.Ed. 905 (1915); Dixon v. United States, D.C.App., 287 A.2d 89, cert. denied, 407 U.S. 926, 92 S.Ct. 2474, 32 L.Ed.2d 813 (1972); Frisby v. United States, 38 App.D.C. 22 (1912). If Congress passed a statute abolishing the corroboration requirement, the constitutional proscription against ex post facto laws would clearly prohibit its application to appellant. See United States v. Williams, 154 U.S.App.D.C. 244, 475 F.2d 355 (1973). If Congress is barred from passing such a law, this court is barred by due process from achieving the same result by judicial decision. See Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U.S. 347, 84 S.Ct. 1697, 12 L.Ed.2d 894 (1964). Before an error of constitutional proportions can be held harmless, it must be harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S. Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967); Baker v. United States, D.C.App., 324 A.2d 194 (1974); cf. Kotteakos v. United States, supra . Thus, the government must demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that the trial judge's refusal to give the instruction on the corroboration requirement did not contribute to appellant's convictions. There is no such showing in this case. Finally, I cannot agree with the majority that the instruction on the need for corroboration should be abolished only where the rape victim is a mature female. I view the use of the word mature as judicial legislation and an attempt to amend the rape statute, which applies to all females 16 years of age and over. Also, unless the word mature is properly defined, it is vague when used in this context. Accordingly, appellant's convictions should be reversed and the case remanded for a new trial with directions that the jury be instructed on the need for corroboration of complainants' testimony. I respectfully dissent. MACK, Associate Judge (concurring in part and dissenting in part): I concur in the holding of the majority that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying severance of the two rape counts, and that the motion for a judgment of acquittal was properly denied. I likewise emphatically reject any notion that a victim of rape or other sex related offenses is presumptively lacking in credence. See ante, at 344. It does not follow that I can view with approval the mandate of the majority summarily striking in this case the corroborative evidence rule in future cases of rape. The problems created by such a course already are exemplified by the difficulty of this court in defining the kind of victim whose testimony must still be suspect, ante, at 345, 348, and the differences of thought as to whether the appellant in this case, having been denied the corroborative instruction at a time that it was required, is entitled to a new trial. Ante, at 341, 345. There are yet more serious problems surfacing by reason of the court's action under these circumstances. The majority has stated that the evidentiary and instructional requirement is being eliminated because of its demeaning implications  thus candidly and commendably recognizing that the criminal law must not be blind to the rights of women. The rights of women are not best served, however, by a mere pronouncement that dicta traced to the 17th century writings of Lord Chief Justice Hale have no place in modern jurisprudence. Rather, such rights are served and preserved by adopting measures which insure the fair and equitable administration of justice. I have grave doubt that the abolishment of the corroboration rule, without more, will make the ordeal of women less demeaning or the administration of justice more equitable. I fear that the majority, without assessing the consequences, is giving lip service to a complex problem ripe for legislative reform. [1] The rule which the majority dispenses with was apparently imposed in this jurisdiction in 1902. [2] I think it is an oversimplification to suggest that, in this country at least, such a rule was adopted solely because of entrenched notions concerning women. It was thought to be a safeguard against unjust conviction [3]  an assumption which cannot be divorced from the practical realities that traditionally the penalty for rape has been a severe one; that unlike other crimes carrying severe penalties, there have been no delineated degrees of rape; and that factual circumstances of rape, more than those of any other crime, readily lend themselves to strong and different interpretations depending upon one's station or experiences in life, including age, sex, race and environment. See generally Hearings to Revise Process for Victims of Rape and Prosecution for Rape in the District of Columbia Before the D. C. City Council Commission on Public Safety (Sept. 18-20, 1973). These factors account for the phenomenon  accepted as a fact by both appellant and appellee  that modern day jurors view rape with suspicion. See H. Kalven & H. Zeisel, The American Jury 249-54 (1966). [4] The same factors may account for statistics showing that, nationwide, 89% of the 455 men executed for rape between 1930 and 1969 were black men. See Note, The Rape Corroboration Requirement: Repeal Not Reform, 81 Yale L.J. 1365, 1380 n. 103 (1972). In our jurisdiction the courts have avoided rigid application of the corroborative evidence rule. See In re W. E. P., D.C. App., 318 A.2d 286 (1974); Moore v. United States, D.C.App., 306 A.2d 278 (1973); United States v. Gray, 155 U.S. App.D.C. 275, 477 F.2d 444 (1973). [5] It is not necessary to introduce evidence to corroborate each and every element of the offense. United States v. Gray, supra ; cf. People v. Masse, 5 N.Y.2d 217, 182 N.Y.S. 2d 821, 156 N.E.2d 452 (1959). Not only has the quantum of proof been flexible under the facts of each case, [6] but the requirement in effect has permitted the introduction of evidence which might otherwise be objected to as inadmissible. [7] In the instant case, for example, the court followed precedent in admitting hearsay testimony from after-the-fact confidants of the victims (including a friend, a minister and a lawyer). In view of this liberal application it can hardly be suggested that the rule has been an impediment to conviction in this jurisdiction, [8] nor would available statistics support such a suggestion. To the contrary, what statistics there are available in this jurisdiction indicate that the conviction rate for rape is substantially higher in the District of Columbia than in the nation as a whole, [9] although a majority of states have never required corroboration. The rule undoubtedly plays some part in the demeaning implications connected with the severe physiological and psychological trauma of rape and its aftermath, during which a female victim may be exposed to searching and embarrassing inquiry from law enforcement officers or reluctant or insensitive treatment from medical personnel. The question arises, however, as to whether the elimination of the judicial requirement, without other reforms, would subject a victim to even closer scrutiny during the investigatory stages [10] and even harsher cross-examination by defense counsel at trial. One of the more degrading experiences for a victim, for example, is that of being cross-examined as to prior sexual conduct. Moreover, with the corroborative requirement eliminated, could the kind of supportive evidence, admitted in the instant case, be successfully challenged as inadmissible? If the prosecution chooses not to seek or to introduce corroborative evidence, would be the risk of attitudinal decisions by jurors be increased? With these questions unanswered, and with the question remaining as to whether the Rule has afforded any protection for the innocent accused, I feel that the action of the court is ill-timed. Fortunately for us the overall problems which arise in the District of Columbia in connection with rape have been exhaustively explored by a Task Force reporting to the Public Safety Committee of the City Council. Hearings have been held and reform recommended, directed not only to the care and treatment of rape victims but also to the prosecution of offenders. In the latter regard, it has been recommended, inter alia, that concomitantly with elimination of the corrboration requirement, the penalty for rape be lowered, the crime be redefined and delineated as to degree, and standards of proof be reexamined. See D. C. City Council, Report and Proposals Regarding Rape and Rape Victims in the District of Columbia (Dec. 16, 1974). In view of the action which the court takes today, I can only hope that legislative revisions not be long in coming. [11] I, too, believe that rape should be treated as any other crime of violence. The stark reality is, however, that in our society, it has not been so treated. Rape is thought to be one of the most underreported crimes due primarily to fear and embarrassment but also due to the severity of the sentence. [12] As long as there remains an inordinately severe penalty for rape  as long as there remains racial hosility  I feel as did Chief Judge Bazelon (concurring in United States v. Wiley, 160 U.S.App.D.C. 281, 289-90, 492 F.2d 547, 555-56 (1973)), that the liberally applied corroborative rule of this jurisdiction is the best protection against attitudinal judgments which operate in derogation of the protection of the innocent  whether that innocent be a victimized female or a falsely accused male. I would retain the rule in future rape cases and reverse for failure to give the required instruction.