Rep. Bobby Franklin, a Republican from the Atlanta suburb of Cobb County, filed the bill in November but it only recently came to public attention.
Franklin’s bill would eliminate the word "victim" from statutes dealing with stalking, rape, obscene telephone contact with a child and family violence and replace it with "accuser."
It also strikes the word "victim" from statutes dealing with electronic pretrial monitoring, HIV testing of criminal defendants and pretrial discovery, the exchange of crucial information between attorneys prior to the start of a criminal trial.
It wasn’t clear why Franklin’s legislation includes only those specific laws, or whether it would affect how people who file complaints about other crimes, such as child molestation, assault or theft might be described.
Carolyn Fiddler, the communications director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, wrote on the organization’s website that the legislation diminishes rape victims by questioning whether what happened to them is even a crime.
"Burglary victims are still victims. Assault victims are still victims. Fraud victims are still victims," she wrote. "But if you have the misfortune to suffer a rape, or if you are beaten by a domestic partner, or if you are stalked, Rep. Franklin doesn’t think you have been victimized."
"When we assume the facts that a jury is being asked to decide by presuming that an individual is in fact a victim, then we are undercutting some of the foundational principles of our legal system," Gabriel said.
This is the second controversy this month over Republican legislation mentioning rape.
Last week, U.S. House Republicans changed the language in a bill limiting taxpayer funding for abortions after Democrats and others argued it narrowed a longstanding allowance for government funding of abortion in the case of rape by using the term "forcible rape."
Critics said the language would exclude abortion funding for the rape of unconscious or mentally incapacitated women, for instance.
Franklin recently attracted attention for filing legislation that would eliminate the need for Georgia residents to get driver’s licenses, saying the government cannot abridge an individual’s right to travel.
He has also filed a bill that would abolish all zoning laws in the state.
Do You Agree With This Guy???
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-02-07/us/georgia.rape.law_1_fraud-victims-word-victim-burglary-victims?_s=PM:US
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