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Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “Crime against Women” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Crime against Women

 

All States have an international legal obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish rapists. Some states have been reported not pursuing cases involving violence against women and have been documented by some groups. This non-prosecution is a serious issue and can only be overcome by raising awareness among the police, the judiciary and the general community. The police are often insensitive to issues concerning rape. They are often suspicious of complainants, particularly if there is no sign of injury. If the woman knows the offender, if she delays reporting the rape or if she appears unnaturally calm or unemotional. If the woman, who is living with her boyfriend, is seen as being morally dubious. if she is sexually experienced or is a prostitute, the allegation will be completely in doubt. Police stations are the traditional rape reception agencies and the police response to complainants requires priority attention.

Education and training are essential for prejudice and negative attitudes to be eliminated and practical approaches to complain imparted. In Malaysia women-only rape squads have been formed by the police and a policy directive established that only women police officers handle rape victims. In the United Kingdom’, police have developed rape suites”. These are specifically designed interview rooms, equipped with a bathroom and examination couch. The victim is interviewed and examined in the ‘suite’, which is separate from the main station interviewing area. In Brazil, there are women-only police stations which deal with the problem of violence against women.

Services: Many countries have established what are sometimes called “rape crisis centres”. Some of these operate a telephone advice service or a short-term residential facility for victims. Most provide sympathetic and knowledgeable support to the victim. These rape crisis centres provide her with legal and counselling services and work closely with hospitals, the police station and the prosecutor’s office. They are basically intended to give the victim courage to face the difficult and often embarrassing procedures that the legal process requires. These centres are augmented by non-governmental organisations and government services, which include information networks, hotlines and counselling services.

Legislation: The criminal laws which exist with regard to rape also pose certain problems. In most cases rape is defined as sexual intercourse with a woman, against her will and without her consent. Questions emerge as to what is “sexual intercourse’, what is “consent” and what are the relevant rules of evidence which should govern a case concerning rape.

Sexual Intercourse: Most jurisdictions consider sexual intercourse for the purpose of rape to exist only where there is penile penetration of vagina. However, frequently, the offender is unable or chooses not to penetrate his victim in this manner, but ma} force her to perform other acts or demean her in other ways. A number of jurisdictions, especially in the Commonwealth countries, have thus taken the view that this concentration on penile penetration is misplaced. These jurisdictions which have redefined rape to include acts beyond penile penetration seek to stress the demeaning and violent aspects of rape, rather than its sexual nature.

Sexual Assault within Marriage: In many countries sexual assault by a husband on his own wife is not regarded as unlawful sexual intercourse and thus is not a crime. This is based on the assumption that the wife gives herself up to the husband by entering into the contract of marriage. Some jurisdictions have, however, done away with this marital immunity.

The Complainant’s Consent: In most countries, rape is defined by statute or by common law as sexual intercourse without the consent of or against the will of the victim. Research from all jurisdictions indicates that any woman who has to prove that she did not consent will face enormous difficulty unless she shows signs of fairly serious injury. She still faces particular difficulty if she knows or has had a sexual relationship with the man in the past. Thus, a number of jurisdictions have attempted to shift the emphasis of the crime away from her consent.

Most take as their inspiration the Michigan Criminal Sexual Conduct Act which eliminated consent as an element of the crime, focusing on the conduct of the offender, rather than the consent of the victim. Thus, “criminal sexual conduct” is committed when sexual intercourse occurs where the accused uses force or coercion or in circumstances where the victim is deemed to be incapable of giving consent, with force or coercion receiving a wide statutory definition.

Related to this concept of consent is the question of whether consent which is grudging or elicited following substantial pressure being applied should be inoperative. It would appear appropriate that consent be vitiated where it is gained by the imposition of the other person’s position of authority over or professional or other trusting relation to the victim. Thus, following certain incidents and revelations in Bihar and Maharashtra, legislation in India has shifted the burden of proof in cases of women raped in State institutions to institutions, i.e. custodial rape, so that those in power have to prove that a rape did not take place.

Some jurisdictions have introduced the crime of Inducing sexual connection by coercion”, which occurs where sexual activity takes place when the offender knows that the complainant consents because of the offender’s position of power. Similarly, others provide that where consent to sexual intercourse is obtained by virtue of a “non-violent threat defined as intimidatory or coercive conduct or other threat, not involving a threat of physical force, in circumstances where the victim could not reasonably be expected to resist the threat and where the offender is aware that submission is liable to six years’ imprisonment.

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