scholarly journals On Sexual Consent in Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Birtles

Consent is an extremely important principle within the law—so important it is defined twice within the Criminal Code: first in s. 265, the assault provision which also governs the law of sexual assault, and again in s. 273.1, where the Code provides additional definition specifically within the context of sexual assault. The limits of consent have been further defined through case law, especially in R v Ewanchuk. Canadians would be surprised to discover that Ewanchuk determined it is illegal to initiate sexual activity via sexual touching, or to kiss a sleeping spouse. To keep people safe from inappropriate sexual touching, we have outlawed activities most intimate partners would not object to: this creates a dilemma about when protection exceeds its necessity and becomes inappropriate control of sexual autonomy. It is this dilemma this article addresses. Ultimately, this article argues that Canada’s sexual assault laws must change for two reasons: first, by criminalizing behaviour that is not morally wrong, the criminal law is overbroad and doesn’t fulfil its expressive function, and; while enacted with the noble goal of protecting the sexual autonomy of women, our consent laws serve to restrict the sexual autonomy of women in ways that are objectionable.

2021 ◽  
pp. 468-517
Author(s):  
Michael J. Allen ◽  
Ian Edwards

Course-focused and contextual, Criminal Law provides a succinct overview of the key areas on the law curriculum balanced with thought-provoking contextual discussion. This chapter discusses the main sexual offences including rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, offences against children, familial sex offences, offences against persons with a mental disorder, and preparatory offences. The chapter situates the offence of rape in particular in the context of broader discussions about consent and trial by jury. Two of ‘The law in context’ features examine the prevalence of ‘rape myths’ that may affect how jurors decide whether a man has committed rape and the procedural issues that affect the success of rape prosecutions.


1990 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 560-579
Author(s):  
Miriam Gur-Arye

In the field of criminal law there is as yet no fully original Israeli code. The Penal Law, 1977, is a new version of the Criminal Code Ordinance, 1936, combined with the various amendments thereto introduced by the Knesset since the establishment of the State. Most legislative changes affect specific offences. The intervention of the Israeli legislator in the general part of the Law, has been most limited. The only context in which the Israeli legislator has laid down his own arrangements is in the application of the criminal law. Under the Criminal Code Ordinance (sections 6-7) its scope was territorial. However, in 1955 the Penal Law Revision (Offences Committed Abroad) Law, 1955 was passed by the Knesset, and this extended the provisions of the Ordinance to certain offences committed outside the territory of the State. In the course of the years, the extra-territorial scope of the criminal law has expanded.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-33
Author(s):  
Apen Diansyah

ABSTRAKPenelitian ini ditujukan untuk mengetahui penerapan denda terhadap pelanggar berlalu lintas di kota Bengkulu ditinjau dari Undang-undang Nomor 22 Tahun 2009, serta untuk mengetahui faktor penghambat dalam penerapan pidana denda terhadap pelanggar barlalu lintas di Kota Bengkulu. Penelitian dilaksanakan disatuan lalu lintas Polres dan Polda Kota Bengkulu. Adapun data yang didapatkan adalah data primer dan data sekunder melalui penelitian lapangan dan penelitian kepustakaan, kemudian data dianalisis dengan cara deskriptif. Peraturan yang tertera pada undang-undang yang tertera sepenuhnya untuk meningkatkan kesadaran untuk setiap pelanggar yang melakukan pelanggaran, tetapi pada kota Bengkulu undang-undang tersebut tidak sepenuhnya berjalan efektif. Menurut pandangan Undang-undang 22 Tahun 2009, penerapan pidana denda masuk dalam kategori pidana pokok (sesuai Pasal 10 KUHP) sebagai urutan terakhir atau keempat, sesudah pidana mati, pidana penjara dan pidana kurungan. Selain dari itu, faktor penghambat keefektifan Undang-undang seperti faktor ekonomi, faktor kedekatan emosional dan faktor kekebalan institusional.Kata kunci: tindak pidana; hukum pidana; dendaABSTRACTThis study aims to determine the application of violators from cities in Bengkulu in terms of Law Number 22 of 2009, and to find out the inhibiting factors in the application of fines to traffic violators in the city of Bengkulu. The research was carried out in the traffic city of the City Police of the City of Bengkulu. The data obtained are primary data and secondary data used for library research and research, then the data are analyzed descriptively. The regulations stated in the law that are fully stated to increase awareness for every offender who commits an offense, but in the city of Bengkulu the law is not fully effective. According to the view of Law 22 of 2009, the application of criminal fines falls into the main criminal category (according to Article 10 of the Criminal Code) as the last or fourth order, after the death penalty, imprisonment and imprisonment. Apart from that, factors inhibiting the effectiveness of the law such as economic factors, emotional proximity factors and institutional immune factors.Keywords: crime; criminal law; fines


Law and World ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-95

The research includes the full and the detailed overview of assessing activities of minor importance in Georgian Criminal Law. The Article 7 of the Criminal Code of Georgia states the following: a crime shall not be an action that, although formally containing the signs of a crime, has not produced, for minor importance, the prejudice that would require criminal liability of its perpetrator, or has not created the risk of such harm. The research includes the main criteria of defining activities as activities of minor importance. The detailed review of Georgian case law is also introduced, as well as, legislation, judicial literature and experience of the other European countries.


2021 ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Ruslan G. Aslanyan

The article examines the historical aspects of the formation and development of a Special part of the Russian Criminal Law. The analysis is based on legal monuments of the X - beginning of the XX century and literary sources. The research is developing in three main directions: a) the ratio of the law and other forms of expression of criminal law prescriptions (here the process of transition from customs to the law as the only means of expressing criminal law norms is revealed); 2) types and system of criminal laws (here the transition from intersectoral laws to the formation of a specialized Criminal Code is shown); 3) systematization of criminal law regulations (here the issues of classification of crimes and structuring of criminal law institutions are revealed). As the main result, it is summarized that by the beginning of the XX century, the idea of creating an independent criminal law was not only implemented in the country, but also, firstly, the principle of its pandect structure was put into practice, suggesting the isolation of its Special part in the structure of the Code and, secondly, the principle of building the most Special part, based on the institutional structure of the industry and the content of goods protected by law.


2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuwan Galappathie ◽  
Krishma Jethwa

SummaryIn England and Wales diminished responsibility is a partial defence to the charge of murder. If successfully argued by the defence, it reduces the charge from murder to manslaughter and thus avoids the mandatory life sentence. Alcohol has been reported to be a feature in up to 80% of all homicides but for many years the judiciary have set an almost unattainable threshold for the disease of alcoholism to amount to a finding of diminished responsibility, in accordance with other aspects of criminal law. Reform of the law on murder is likely to take many years but it is timely to recap the current law on diminished responsibility and review advances in case law in England and Wales on alcohol.


2018 ◽  
pp. 933
Author(s):  
Lucinda Vandervort

This article examines the operation of “reasonable steps” as a statutory standard for analysis of the availability of the defence of belief in consent in sexual assault cases and concludes that application of section 273.2(b) of the Criminal Code, as presently worded, often undermines the legal validity and correctness of decisions about whether the accused acted with mens rea, a guilty, blameworthy state of mind. When the conduct of an accused who is alleged to have made a mistake about whether a complainant communicated consent is assessed by the hybrid subjective-objective reasonableness standard prescribed by section 273.2, many decision-makers rely on extra-legal criteria and assumptions grounded in their personal experience and opinion about what is reasonable. In the midst of debate over what the accused knew and what steps were “reasonable,” given what the accused knew, the legal definition of consent in section 273.1 is easily overlooked and decision-makers focus on facts that are legally irrelevant and prejudice rational deliberation. The result is failure to enforce the law. The author proposes: (1) that section 273.2 be amended to reflect the significant developments achieved in sexual consent jurisprudence since enactment of the provision in 1992; and (2) that, in the interim, the judiciary act with resolve to make full and proper use of the statutory and common law tools that are presently available to determine whether the accused acted with mens rea in relation to the absence of sexual consent.


FIAT JUSTISIA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Syaputra Syaputra

The Criminal Code as a legacy of Dutch colonialism could no longer follow the dynamism of community life. It is too rigid has obliterated the sense of justice which is the goal of the creation of the law itself. This is because the articles of the Criminal Code deemed unsuitable to the development of crime and offenses increasingly complex. In the draft Code of Criminal Law, as one of the reform effort is the formulation of offenses of corruption set out in Chapter XXXII starting from Article 688 to Article 702. With the formulation of the offense of corruption and offenses positions formulated in the draft Criminal Code will disregard the Law Combating Corruption although this law of particular importance because of the substance of the articles draft Criminal Code wants to make corruption has become common crimes and do not pass through handling extraordinary. Law on Corruption Eradication cannot apply even if there is the principle of lex specialis derogat lex generalis, because of the retroactive principle that applies in the draft Criminal Code so that the decision to force the law can still be applied retroactively when the rule of law that new does not regulate the offense of criminal, so punishment can be eliminated.Keywords: Offense Corruption , Corruption , Reform of draft Criminal Code


2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-219
Author(s):  
Omar Madhloom

English criminal law appears reluctant to criminalise deceptive sexual behaviour. It currently does so only in circumstances where the defendant has actively lied to the complainant regarding a fact recognised by law as crucial to consent. This restrictive approach arguably fails in many cases to protect the complainant’s sexual autonomy. The central argument presented in this article is that all forms of deception, including non-disclosure, a false promise and mistake as to a material fact, may distort the complainant’s decisionmaking process and undermine her ability to make an informed choice. A material fact is one which plays a significant role in a person’s decision to engage in sex. This article advocates that the law of rape should be widened to include mistake on the part of the complainant and non-disclosure by the defendant.


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