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Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef
You're kidding yourself if you think that they won't bring up her sexual history, especially if she has a history of going home with guys she just met. Maybe they won't bluntly call her a slut but they will definitely insinuate it.
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Umm Dude, you need to read up on the U.S. rape shield rules, that have been adopted in almost all the states.
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In the late 1970s and early 1980s, almost all jurisdictions in the United States adopted some form of rape shield statute. The laws in each state differ in the scope of sexual behavior shielded and time limits of the shield. Many states do not permit any evidence relating to the past sexual behavior of the victim. This encompasses evidence of specific instances of the victim's prior or subsequent sexual conduct including opinion evidence or reputation evidence.[4]
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Basically a victims prior sexual history is viewed as not admissable unless it directly correlates.
Basically she can be the biggest slut in the world, and the court can't allow that to be put in front of the jury, unless her prior history is directly related to the accused.
In other words the accused can be the most promiscuous person in the history of the world, but that past history doesn't matter.
This was bought in because the ability for the defense to personally attack the victim was leading to victims not coming forward.