Rape (according to VA law)
- If any person has sexual intercourse with a complaining witness who is not his or her spouse or causes a complaining witness, whether or not his or her spouse, to engage in sexual intercourse with any other person and such act is accomplished (i) against the complaining witness's will, by force, threat or intimidation of or against the complaining witness or another person, or (ii) through the use of the complaining witness's mental incapacity or physical helplessness, or (iii) with a child under age thirteen as the victim, he or she shall be guilty of rape.
Types of Rape:
- Acquaintance Rape or Date rape- "unlawful sexual intercourse accomplished by force or fear with a person known to the victim who is not related by blood or marriage".
- Martial rape- rape committed by a spouse/partner or by and ex-spouse/partner against a persons will.
- Stranger Rape- forced sex against a women and her attacker is not known to her.
Possible Suicide
In a study done by a various number of researchers at the WHO Multi-Country Study Team linked the possibility of suicide to domestic violence. Their studies showed that a lack of support and mental health could cause a higher possibility of suicide for women who have been abused. Their reason for the study is to inform the audience of the correlation between the two and make the availability of mental health facilities to women who have had violence within the home or abuse from close relatives. This should, according to the study, reduce the number of suicides committed or attempted by women who have been abuse in their lifetime.