Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, 1994. This judgment was also affirmed by <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> European Court of Human Rights in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> decisi<strong>on</strong> of SW v. UK (1996) 21 EHRR 363. 38 Despite <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> fact that <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> relati<strong>on</strong>ship between <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> victim and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> offender is <strong>on</strong>e of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> sentencing fac<str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g>rs, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> chair of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> British Sentencing Advisory Panel stated that: “Sentencing practice does appear <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> be more lenient when <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> victim and offender were known <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> each o<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r.” This same sentencing panel released a report calling for courts <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> deal with intimate rapes <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> same way as stranger rapes and an eight-year minimum jail term for horrific rapes. 39 United States In <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> United States, rape laws are governed by <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> individual states, not by <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> federal government. On 5 July 1993, marital rape became a crime in all 50 states under at least <strong>on</strong>e secti<strong>on</strong> of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> states’ sexual offence <strong>code</strong>s. Never<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>less, in 33 states, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>re are still some exempti<strong>on</strong>s given <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> husbands from rape prosecuti<strong>on</strong> – when she is unable <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>sent (eg. she is physically or mentally impaired, unc<strong>on</strong>scious or asleep). 40 In <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> United States, studies in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> mid-1990s suggested that marital rape accounts for 25 percent of all rapes, and that <strong>on</strong>e-third <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong>e-half of battered women are raped by <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir partners at least <strong>on</strong>ce. Studies from <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> United States indicate that <strong>on</strong>ly 2 percent of rape reports are false reports, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> same as for most o<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r fel<strong>on</strong>y crimes. 41 Vietnam Although not specifically or individually menti<strong>on</strong>ed under <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Penal Code, marital rape can be addressed under general provisi<strong>on</strong>s. 42 C<strong>on</strong>clusi<strong>on</strong> Marital rape is an extremely serious crime, prevalent throughout Western and Eastern societies. Women who experience rape in marriage suffer severe physical and psychological trauma from <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> abuse, which is often repeated many times. In Asia and around <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> world, many countries have abolished <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> marital rape excepti<strong>on</strong>, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>reby providing for <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> possibility of prosecuting husbands who rape <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir wives. This has been extremely important symbolically in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>se countries, as it dem<strong>on</strong>strated <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> government 38 Saurabh Mishra & Sarvesh Singh (2003), “Marital Rape — Myth, Reality and Need for Criminalizati<strong>on</strong>”, PL WebJour 12, http://www.ebc-india.com/lawyer/articles/645.htm 39 “Marital rape as serious as stranger rape”, BBC News, 25 May 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2007528.stm. 40 Raquel Kennedy Bergen (1999), “Marital Rape”, VAWNet Applied Research Forum, http://www.vaw.umn.edu/documents/vawnet/mrape/mrape.pdf 41 Lisa R. Eskow (1996), “The Ultimate Weap<strong>on</strong>: Demythologizing Spousal Rape and Rec<strong>on</strong>ceptualizing Its Prosecuti<strong>on</strong>”, Stanford Law Review 48, 677-709 at 694, citing Eloise Salholz, Sex Crimes: Women <strong>on</strong> Trial, Newsweek, Dec. 16, 1991, at 23 (quoting Morris<strong>on</strong> Torrey). 42 Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur <strong>on</strong> Violence Against Women, “Integrati<strong>on</strong> of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Human Rights of Women and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Gender Perspective <strong>on</strong> Violence Against Women, Addendum 1: Internati<strong>on</strong>al, regi<strong>on</strong>al and nati<strong>on</strong>al developments in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> area of violence against women, 1994-2003”, 27 February 2003, para. 1235 and 1237, http://www.hri.ca/for<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>record2003/documentati<strong>on</strong>/commissi<strong>on</strong>/e-cn4-2003-75- add1.htm. 36
and society’s evolving respect for women and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> need <str<strong>on</strong>g>to</str<strong>on</strong>g> protect women from all forms of violence. The symbolic value of abolishing <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> marital rape excepti<strong>on</strong> is extremely high. Eliminating <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> excepti<strong>on</strong> sends a clear signal that any rape – within or outside a marriage – is inherently wr<strong>on</strong>g and unacceptable in a modern society. 37
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