Military Rule of Evidence – MRE 412 “Rape Shield Law”
- MRE 412 Background
- MRE 412 Statute
- Specific Instances of Sexual Conduct
- Exceptions to MRE 412
- Requirements for Admission of MRE 412 Evidence
- Procedural Issues with MRE 412
Background of MRE 412
This rule was later revised as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The military adopted Federal Rule of Evidence 412 as MRE 412 with the intent of protecting sexual assault victims from questions of a personal nature about their sexual history that may have little bearing in the court-martial.
The reasoning behind the rule is that a person’s past sexual behavior rarely has any relevance to why they may have acted a certain way sexually on a specific occasion.