560
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
the accused could be convicted, like any other defendant, on the basis of a guilty plea or a voluntary confession. Article 38.07, in other words, does not define "sexual assault proven by corroborated victim testimony" as a distinct offense from "sexual assault." Rather, the measure operates only to restrict the State's method of proving its case.5
And it does so without affecting in any way the burden of persuasion that the prosecution must satisfy to support a conviction. Under both the old and new versions of the statute, the applicable standard is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The amendment in 1993 that repealed the corroboration requirement for victims between the ages of 14 and 18 did nothing to change that standard.
The Court recognizes that Article 38.07 does not affect the applicable burden of persuasion, see ante, at 539, but several times it asserts that the amended version of the statute "changed the quantum of evidence necessary to sustain a conviction," ante, at 530 (emphasis added). See also ante, at 531 (amended law "permitted petitioner to be convicted with less than the previously required quantum of evidence"); ante, at 532-533 (amended law "[r]educ[es] the quantum of evidence necessary to meet the burden of proof" (emphases added)). If by the word "quantum" the Court means to refer to the burden of persuasion, these statements are simply incorrect and contradict the Court's own acknowledgment. And if, as appears more likely, "quantum" refers to some required quantity or amount of proof, the Court is also wrong. The partial repeal of Article 38.07's corroboration requirement did not change the quantity of proof necessary to convict in every case, for the simple reason that Texas has never required the prosecution to introduce any particular
5 By the same reasoning, the repeal of the corroboration requirement for victims between the ages of 14 and 18 plainly did not deprive sexual assault defendants of any defense they previously enjoyed.
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