Analysis of Criminal Law Sanctions' Application Against Statutory Rape from the Positive Law Perspective on Ambon Island and Lease Islands

The purpose of this study was to analyze the application of criminal law sanctions against statutory rape in Indonesia. The analysis employed a positive law perspective and an empirical legal approach. The research data consisted of verbal utterances and observation results collected from Criminal Investigators at the Ambon Island and Lease Islands’ police stations. Data analysis was carried out through (1) data reduction, (2) data display, and (3) conclusion. The results of this study indicate that criminal sanctions against statutory rape in Indonesia are applied through the process of investigation, visum et repertum, prosecution and summons of suspects and witnesses, statements of criminal penalties for the perpetrators, and prevention of sexual immorality and rape. The criminal sanctions are based on “Law Number 35 of 2014 about Amendments to Law Number 23 of 2002 concerning Child Protection Articles 76D and 81. Keywords: criminal, intercourse, positive law

Child Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse also referred to as molestation. The term is also covering any behaviour by on adult or older adolescents towards a referred to as child sexual abuse or statutory rape. In the global, India is the largest number of children 375 million, covering forty percentage of its population, out of which sixty-nine percentage of Indian girls are victims of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Apart from that 70% of cases are unreported or unshared even with family members Global Prevalence of Sexual Abuse. Child Sexual Abuse rate among the girls are consistently higher than in boys. Prevalence rates of Child sexual abuse range from 8% to 31% for females and 3% to 17% for males. Prevalence rates may be attributed to different operational definitions of Child Sexual Abuse, as well as differences in occurrence of Child Sexual Abuse among varied populations across geographical regions. Prevalence rates also affected gender predicting factors.

Self-Reported Sexual Victimization Among Chilean Children and Youth

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of sexual victimization among a representative sample of children and youth from Chile and to analyze the sex and age differences. The First National Survey of Poly-victimization collected cross-sectional data via a self-report survey of 19,648 children and youth (aged 12–18 years). Lifetime victimization was reported by 31.9% of children and youth (23.9% of males and 39.7% of females) and 21.9% reported victimization in the past year (16.8% of males and 26.9% of females). Girls presented higher percentages of lifetime sexual victimization with and without physical contact in practically all of the items. However, boys had a higher prevalence in statutory rape. Younger participants reported a prevalence of sexual victimization of 23.1%, while older participants reported a prevalence of 40.0%. Youth between the ages of 15 and 18 years had a higher prevalence of lifetime sexual victimization in practically all its forms, except for verbal sexual harassment. The results show that Chilean children and youth are exposed to sexual victimization in an extensive way, which demands an immediate response by public policy.

Edad sexual y exclusión de la responsabilidad penal. Fundamentos del Derecho anglosajón

En los últimos años, la protección de menores frente comportamientos de abuso y explotación sexual ha sido una de las preocupaciones principales en los sistemas legales de Derecho continental y anglosajón. La respuesta de los Legisladores penales ha sido la elevación de la edad de consentimiento sexual de los menores de edad. Sin embargo, la medida provoca problemas interpretativos de índole constitucional que no pueden ser obviados. Por un lado, la posible afectación del derecho fundamental a la privacidad de los propios menores (desarrollo de su sexualidad). Por otro, la proporcionalidad de la sanción penal prevista para ese tipo de delitos, así como los efectos de la inscripción en los Registros de Delincuentes sexuales. En España, la modificación de la LO 1/2015, de 30 de marzo, elevó la edad de consentimiento sexual a los 16 años. La reforma también incluyó el nuevo art. 183 quáter, que permite al Tribunal eximir de responsabilidad penal cuando autor y víctima sean “próximos por edad y grado de desarrollo o madurez”. En los sistemas penales anglosajones esta cláusula, denominada “cláusula de escape” o “cláusula Romeo y Julieta”, es una de las piezas centrales del delito del statutory rape o delito de violación definido por estatuto. Este artículo examina los orígenes, configuración y el fundamento de la exclusión de la responsabilidad penal por “cercanía en edad o desarrollo” en los Estados Unidos de América (sistemas federal y estatal), Reino Unido e Irlanda del Norte, República de Irlanda y Canadá. El artículo analiza también la jurisprudencia más importante al respecto y los problemas constitucionales derivados de las nuevas las edades de consentimiento.In recent years the protection of minors against sexual abuse and exploitation has been one of the main concerns in the Civil and Common Law legal systems. The response of the Criminal Legislators has been the raise of the age of sexual consent of minors. However, this measure causes constitutional problems that cannot be ignored. On the one hand, the conflict with the minor fundamental right of privacy (development of the sexuality). On the other hand, the proportionality of the criminal sanction provided for such crimes, as well as the effects of the registration in the Sex Offenders Registry. In Spain, the amendment introduced by the Organic Law 1/2015, of March 30, raised the age of sexual consent to 16 years. The Law created the new article 183 quater in the Criminal Code to allow the Court to exempt from criminal responsibility when the defendant and the victim are «close in age and development or maturity». In Common Law criminal systems that clause, called «escape clause» or «Romeo and Juliet clause» is one of the central pieces of the statutory rape. This article examines the origins, the elements and the rationale of the exclusion of criminal responsibility for «close in age and development» in the United States of America (federal and state law), the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, Ireland and Canada. The article analyses the most important case-law regarding the constitutional problems arising from the new ages of consent.

"Child Witches": Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Homeless Girls in South-Southern Nigeria

Sexual exploitation and abuse of girls is one of the endemic social problems in Nigeria. Although this problem has attracted much research attention in recent times, some newly emerged factors contributing to the problem have been mostly ignored. This study explored how the abandonment of children following their stigmatization as witches contributes to sexual exploitation and abuse of the girls in the Akwa Ibom and Cross River states of Nigeria. The study was based on the qualitative research paradigm. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews of three senior staff members of the Child’s Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN)—a children’s charity that manages a shelter for children abandoned as witches. Thematic analysis was conducted and five principal themes were developed from the data, which are (1) vulnerable to statutory rape; (2) living with sexual addiction; (3) targeted for human trafficking; (4) vulnerable to infections and pregnancy; and (5) exposed to intergenerational abuse. Theme (1) is concerned with how the girls are frequently raped by different groups of men due to the girls’ presence on the street. Theme (2) shows how the girls struggle with sexual addiction following frequent exposure to sexual activities since the early years of their lives. Theme (3) details how human traffickers target the girls for the sex trade, labor and other purposes. Theme (4) shows how the girls struggle with sexually transmitted infections and sometimes, pregnancy. Theme (5) details how the stigmatization and the consequent abuse of the stigmatized girls on the street also extend to their children, who are automatically regarded as the children of witches. Recommendations were made on how to address this social problem.

Statutory Rape: Case Characteristics When Offenders are Younger Than 21 Years of Age Versus Older

Statutory rape laws are intended to protect adolescents from harm as a result of sexual activity with older individuals. In this pursuit, many, but far from all, states’ statutory rape laws differentiate younger and older offenders. In effect, many of these states differentiate offenders who are 21 and older from those who are under 21. It is unknown, however, whether and how the dynamics of statutory rape vary depending on the age of the offender. To explore the contribution of offender age to the dynamics of statutory rape, data were collected from the records of 105 statutory rape cases referred to a child abuse assessment center over a 63-month period. Records included detailed reports on case history and victims’ family history, mental health and health-risking behaviors, medical examination results, and forensic interview summaries. Cases of offenders 1 1. Because these cases are under investigation, “offenders” here refers to “suspects.” For ease of reading, we use “offenders” to be consistent with prior research terminology. under 21 were compared to the cases of offenders 21 years and older. Compared to cases of younger offenders, cases of offenders 21 years and older more often involved slightly older adolescent victims. Independent of age, victims with offenders 21 and over compared with offenders under 21 were over six times as likely to have a prior history of a high, versus low, number of psychosocial problems and were seven times more likely to experience multiple forms of coercion versus no coercion by the offender. Findings suggest that statutory rape prevention, policy and response strategies should consider the critical ways that case characteristics and victims differ according to this key offender attribute.

The Influence of Gender on Perceptions of Culpability and Victim Status in Statutory Rape Offenses Involving Teachers

Perceptions of child sexual abuse and statutory rape vary based on the gender of the victim, the perpetrator, and the combination of both. We extend existing research to examine attributions of responsibility and punitive preferences for student victims in student–teacher sexual relationships contingent on the gender dyad of the student and teacher and the interaction between the gender dyad and respondent gender. Participants ( N = 648) were randomly assigned to vignettes wherein the gender of the student and teacher were manipulated (female teacher/male student; female teacher/female student; male teacher/female student; male teacher/male student). Overall, respondents were “pro-victim,” though results indicate significant differences in respondent gender and how the gender dyads were perceived. Students in the male same-sex dyads were attributed less responsibility than other students. Furthermore, men were less likely to perceive the student as a victim, and women were more likely to indicate the student should be punished.

Incest

This is the first of three chapters to consider offenses that involve putatively consensual sex. The general question is whether it is possible to reconceptualize offenses that once were justified on a legal moralist rationale under the contemporary liberal harm and wrong principles. The particular focus is incest, both between adults and juveniles and involving only adults. The former is already criminalized as statutory rape. The fact that it involves a family member may justify aggravated penalties but under the principle of fair labeling does not justify its status as a freestanding offense. Putatively consensual incest involving adults presents more difficult issues, implicating the right of persons to choose their own (willing) sexual partners. One possible rationale for criminalizing incest is that it causes higher risks of birth defects. But this raises the “paradox of future individuals,” based on the fact that the act potentially causing harm to the child is the very one that brings the child into existence in the first place. Even if that paradox could be solved, problems would remain. In the modern liberal state, government intervention into reproductive choices is highly problematic. This is also true of intervention into familial relationships. If there is a liberal rationale for prohibiting adult incest, it is based on concerns that such relationships, though putatively consensual, will be found, upon further inspection, to be coercive or exploitative.

Criminalizing Sex

Starting in the latter part of the twentieth century, the law of sexual offenses, especially in the West, began to reflect a striking divergence. On the one hand, the law became significantly more punitive in its approach to sexual conduct that is nonconsensual, as evidenced by a major expansion in the definition of rape and sexual assault and the creation of new offenses such as sex trafficking, child grooming, and revenge porn. On the other hand, it became markedly more permissive in how it dealt with conduct that is consensual, a trend that can be seen, for example, in the legalization or decriminalization of sodomy, adultery, and adult pornography. This book explores the conceptual and normative implications of this divergence. In doing so, it assumes that the proper role of the criminal law in a liberal state is to protect individuals in their right not to be subjected to sexual contact against their will, while also safeguarding their right to engage in (private, consensual) sexual conduct in which they do wish to participate. Although consistent in the abstract, these dual aims frequently come into conflict in practice. The book develops a framework for harmonizing these goals in the context of a wide range of nonconsensual, consensual, and aconsensual sexual offenses (hence the “unified” nature of the theory)—including rape as nonconsensual sex, rape by deceit, rape by coercion, rape of a person who lacks capacity to consent, statutory rape, abuse of position, sexual harassment, voyeurism, indecent exposure, incest, sadomasochistic assault, prostitution, bestiality, and necrophilia.