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Privacy Concerns for Sexual Assault Victims
Being raped or sexually assaulted is one of the most humiliating
experiences a person can go through. If it has happened to you:
- You may want to keep the assault a secret.
- You may have that feeling of “not wanting anyone else to
know.”
- You may weigh the good and bad reasons for telling people—
like family, friends or the police—about the assault.
- You may wonder how you can both protect your privacy and seek
legal help.
Honoring how you feel about your privacy is why the Victim Rights
Law Center is here. When you talk with one of our attorneys, the
conversation will be strictly confidential. We can tell you about
your privacy rights and help you protect them at your school, your
job, and in the courts.
Privacy Rights - Legal Information and Remedies
There are both state and federal laws that protect the privacy
of sexual assault survivors. Some of these laws are described generally
here.
If I talk with a lawyer, are my conversations
confidential?
If I talk with a rape counselor, are my conversations
confidential?
If I go to court, can they talk about my past sexual
relationships?
If I make a report to police about sexual assault
will they keep it private?
Please note: This legal information does not address your specific
situation. For personal legal advice please contact
the Victim Rights Law Center or another qualified attorney.
If I talk with a lawyer, are my conversations
confidential?
The Attorney Client Privilege makes your conversations with a private
attorney strictly confidential. Such conversations cannot be obtained,
or used, by anyone else. The only exception to this is if you tell
your attorney that you plan on doing something in the future, which
will cause death, or serious bodily harm to someone, or cause serious
injury to someone’s financial interests. Please note: these
confidentiality rules do not apply to the State Prosecutor’s
conversations with rape victims.
If I talk with a rape counselor, are
my conversations confidential?
If you talk to a therapist or rape counselor, you should know there
are several laws that will stop your counselor or therapist from
telling anyone about your conversations. These protections include:
- Rape Crisis Counseling Privilege, which generally makes
conversations between you and a Rape Crisis Counselor confidential.
What was said in these conversations cannot be repeated to other
people, and nine times out of ten these conversations cannot be
used as evidence in court proceedings, like in a trial. Your Rape
Crisis Counselor must protect this privacy right, and there are
many legal hurdles a defendant must jump over in order to see
these records.
- Other Social Worker, Psychologist and Therapist Privileges
generally make conversations that you have with a mental health
provider private. What you say to your therapist should not be
repeated to other people. However, if you are involved in a court
case, these records can potentially be brought into court ("subpoenaed").
Therefore, if you have met with any mental health care provider
and you are involved in a court case, you should tell the counselor
that you want your records kept private. Ask them to tell you
if they receive a subpoena for your records. Like rape crisis
records, there are legal hurdles a defendant must jump over in
order to look at records, but you must first assert your privilege
rights. If you do not assert your privilege rights and the defendant
subpoenas the records, they may be released to the court.
- Each counseling profession also has a Professional Duty of
Confidentiality that will protect your conversations. For
example Social Workers and Psychologists have a general duty not
to share with others what you’ve discussed with them. However,
you should also know that each profession has a list of exceptions,
or circumstances that will require them to break confidentiality.
These exceptions often apply if you express the serious, immediate
intent to commit suicide, homicide, or other harm to people, or
if your conversations reveal abuse of children, the elderly or
the disabled.
If I go to court, can they talk about my
past sexual relationships?
If your case should go to court, there are many rules (of evidence)
that will determine what information about you can be talked about
in court. Certain information about you will be excluded from trial.
For example, under the Massachusetts Rape Shield Statute, generally
your past sexual history, or reputation for sexual activity, cannot
be used as evidence in a criminal trial. There are some exceptions
to this rule. For example, if you have had past sexual conduct with
the defendant, you may be questioned about the details of your past
relationship.
If I make a report to police about sexual
assault will they keep it private?
In Massachusetts, if you make a report to the police about sexual
assault, there is a law that will protect the privacy of that report.
The law makes sexual assault reports to the police unavailable to
the general public. They are kept in separate, confidential files.
If your case becomes active in the criminal courts however your
police report will be made public, but another Massachusetts law
requires that your name should automatically be blacked-out (“redacted”)
in all public police records and court documents. This means that
your name should not be released to the public. Another Massachusetts
law also gives you the option to ask the Judge to keep private your
address, telephone number, place of employment, or location of your
school. If the Judge agrees, this personal information will be redacted
from the record and not be stated in open court. Please note, in
order to do this, you must request this from the Judge as soon as
possible.
If you are a victim and have specific questions or concerns
about any of these privacy issues, you can contact
the Victim Rights Law Center.
If you are an attorney or an advocate, please see our Attorney
Practice Manual for further details.
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