Marital rape

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This article is about marital rape. For a related article, see Sexual violence by intimate partners. For violence between partners, see Outline of domestic violence.
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Marital rape, also known as spousal rape, is non-consensual sex in which the perpetrator is the victim's spouse. As such, it is a form of partner rape, of domestic violence, and of sexual abuse. Once widely condoned or ignored by law, spousal rape is now repudiated by international conventions and increasingly criminalized. Still, in many countries, spousal rape either remains legal, or is illegal but widely tolerated and accepted as a husband's prerogative.

In 2006, it was estimated that marital rape could be prosecuted in at least 104 countries (in four of these countries, marital rape could be prosecuted only when the spouses were judicially separated),[1] and since 2006 several other countries have outlawed spousal rape. In many countries it is not clear if marital rape may or may not be prosecuted under ordinary rape laws. Several countries in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia made spousal rape illegal before 1970, but other countries in Western Europe and the English-speaking Western World outlawed it much later, mostly in the 1980s and 1990s. Most developing countries outlawed it in the 1990s and 2000s.

Research literature, particularly in the areas of incidence and effects, may extend the use of the term spousal/marital rape to include divorced/legally separated ex-spouses or unmarried cohabiting partners. Current state laws, however, often treat rape by ex-spouses or intimate partners as different than marital rape, and therefore, legally equivalent to rape by a stranger.[2]

Contents

[edit] Physical and psychological damage

Main article: Effects and aftermath of rape

Rape by a partner or ex-partner is more often associated with physical violence. A nine-nation study within the European Union found that current or ex-partners were the perpetrators of around 25% of all sexual assaults, and that violence was more common in assaults by ex-partners (50% of the time) and partners (40%) than in assaults by strangers or recent acquaintances (25%).[3]

While rape by a stranger is highly traumatic, it is typically a one-time event and is clearly understood as rape. In the case of rape by a spouse or long term sexual partner, the history of the relationship affects the victim’s reactions. Marital rape is likely to be part of an abusive relationship. Trauma from the rape adds to the effect of other abusive acts or abusive and demeaning talk. Furthermore, marital rape is rarely a one-time event, but a repeated if not frequent occurrence.[4]

[edit] Legal aspect

Historically, many cultures have had a concept of spouses' conjugal rights[5] to sexual intercourse with each other. This can be seen in Common law, in force in North America and the British Commonwealth, where the very concept of marital rape was treated as an impossibility. This was illustrated most vividly by Sir Matthew Hale, in his 1736 legal treatise, Historia Placitorum Coronæ or History of the Pleas of the Crown, where he wrote that such a rape could not be recognized since the wife "hath given up herself in this kind unto her husband, which she cannot retract."

[edit] Formalization of the marital rape exemption in law

[edit] Common law and the United Kingdom

See also: Rape in English law

Hale's statement in History of the Pleas of the Crown was not supported by any judicial authority but was believed to be a logical consequence of the laws of marriage and rape as understood at the time. Marriage gave conjugal rights to a spouse, and marriage could not be revoked except by private Act of Parliament—it therefore seemed to follow that a spouse could not legally revoke consent to sexual intercourse, and if there was consent there was no rape.

The principle was repeated in East's Treatise of the Pleas of the Crown in 1803 and in Archbold’s Pleading and Evidence in Criminal Cases in 1822, but it was not until R v Clarence (1888) 22 QBD 23 that the question of the exemption first arose in an English courtroom. Clarence was determined on a different point, and there was no clear agreement between the nine judges regarding the status of the rule.

[edit] Feminist critique in the 19th century

From the beginnings of the 19th century women's movement, activists challenged the presumed right of men to engage in forced sex with their wives. In the United States, "the nineteenth-century woman's rights movement fought against a husband's right to control marital intercourse in a campaign that was remarkably developed, prolific, and insistent, given nineteenth-century taboos against the public mention of sex or sexuality."[6] Suffragists including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone "singled out a woman's right to control marital intercourse as the core component of equality."[7] Nineteenth century feminist demands centered on the right of women to control their bodies and fertility, positioned consent in marital sexual relations as an alternative to contraception and abortion (which many opposed), and also embraced eugenic concerns about excessive procreation.[8] British liberal feminists John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor attacked marital rape as a gross double-standard in law and as central to the subordination of women.[9]

Advocates of free love, including early anarcha-feminists such as Voltairine de Cleyre and Emma Goldman, as well as Victoria Woodhull, Thomas Low Nichols, and Mary S. Gove Nichols, joined a critique of marital rape to advocacy of women's autonomy and sexual pleasure.[10] Moses Harman, a Kansas-based publisher and advocate for women's rights, was jailed twice under the Comstock laws for publishing articles (by a woman who was victimized and a doctor who treated marital rape survivors) decrying marital rape. De Cleyre defended Harman in a well-known article, "Sexual Slavery." She refused to draw any distinction between rape outside of, and within marriage: "And that is rape, where a man forces himself sexually upon a woman whether he is licensed by the marriage law to do it or not."[11]

[edit] 20th and 21st century criminalization

  Marital rape is criminalized
  Marital rape is criminalized only if the couple is legally separated
  Marital rape is a form of non-criminal domestic violence
  Marital rape is known not to be criminalized

As the concept of human rights has developed, the belief of a marital right to sexual intercourse has become less widely held. Feminists worked systematically since the 1960s to overturn the marital rape exemption and criminalize marital rape.[12] Increasing criminalization of spousal rape is part of a worldwide reclassification of sexual crimes "from offenses against morality, the family, good customs, honor, or chastity ... to offenses against liberty, self-determination, or physical integrity."[13] In December 1993, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights published the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. This establishes marital rape as a human rights violation.

Despite these trends and international moves, criminalization has not occurred in all UN member States. In 1997, UNICEF reported that just 17 States criminalized marital rape.[14] In 2003, UNIFEM reported that more than 50 States did so.[15] In 2006, the UN Secretary General found "Marital rape may be prosecuted in at least 104 States. Of these, 32 have made marital rape a specific criminal offence, while the remaining 74 [sic] do not exempt marital rape from general rape provisions. Four States criminalize marital rape only when the spouses are judicially separated."[15]

Countries which were early to criminalize marital rape include the Soviet Union (1922/1960),[16] Poland (1932), Czechoslovakia (1950), some other members of the Communist Bloc, Denmark (1960), Sweden (1965),[17] and Norway (1971).[17] The Israeli Supreme Court affirmed that marital rape is a crime in a 1980 decision, citing law based on the Talmud.[18][19] Criminalization in Australia began with the state of New South Wales in 1981, followed by all other states from 1985 to 1992.[20] Several formerly British-ruled countries followed suit: Canada (1983),[21][22] New Zealand (1985), and Ireland (1990).[20]

Many United States rape statutes formerly precluded the prosecution of spouses, including estranged or even legally separated couples. In 1975, South Dakota removed this exception.[23] In 1993, North Carolina became the last state to remove the spousal exemption.[24] However, as of 1999, 33 of 50 U.S. states regard spousal rape as a lesser crime [Bergen, 1999]. The perpetrator may be charged with related crimes such as assault, battery, or spousal abuse. There are other criminal charges that may be inapplicable to married couples. For example, in the U.S., there is a marriage exemption to the charge of statutory rape even if one of the spouses is under the age of consent in the jurisdiction where the sexual act takes place.

France's Cour de Cassation authorized prosecution of spouses for rape or sexual assualt in 1990, but ruled in 1992 that a presumption of consent exists from the time of marriage until it is revoked by either party.[25] In 1994, Law 94-89 criminalized marital rape;[25] a second law, passed 4 April 2006, makes rape by a partner (including in unmarried couples, married couples, and in civil unions) an aggravating circumstance in prosecuting rape.[26] Germany outlawed spousal rape only in 1997, which is later than other developed countries. Female ministers and women's rights activists lobbied for this law for over 25 years.[27]

In India, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (passed August 2005; entered into force October 2006) created a civil remedy for victims, but it did not criminalize marital rape,[28][29] and jail time is only considered if a court order has been violated.

Thai legal scholar Taweekiet Meenakanit voiced his opposition to legal reforms to make spousal rape in Thailand a crime. A non-gender specific admendment to the rape laws appeared to exempt husband and wives from criminal prosecution, and opponents of the amendemnt argued for specfic language criminalizing rape of a wife by her husband. Mr. Meenakanit argued that allowing a husband to file a rape charge against his wife is "abnormal logic" and that wives would refuse to divorce or put their husband in jail since many Thai wives are dependent on their husbands. [30]

Recent countries to criminalize marital rape include Turkey (2005),[31] Cambodia (2005),[32] Nepal (2006),[33] Mauritius (2007),[34] Ghana (1998/2007),[35] Malaysia (2007),[36][37] Thailand (2007),[38] Tunisia (2008),[39] Rwanda (2009),[40] South Korea (2009),[41] and Jamaica (2009).[42] Human rights observers have criticized a variety of countries—including Japan,[43] Poland,[44] and Kazakhstan[45]—for failing to effectively prosecute marital rape once it has been criminalized. South Africa, which criminalized in 1996, saw its first conviction for marital rape in 2012.[46]

[edit] Ending the exemption in England and Wales

Main article: Rape in English law

The marital rape exemption was abolished in England and Wales in 1991 by the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, in the case of R v R.[47][48] been promulgated in 1736 in Matthew Hale’s History of the Pleas of the Crown (see above).

The first attempted prosecution of a husband for the rape of his wife was R v Clarke [1949] 2 All ER 448. Rather than try to argue directly against Hale’s logic, the court held that consent in this instance had been revoked by an order of the court for non-cohabitation. It was the first of a number of cases in which the courts found reasons not to apply the exemption, notably R v O’Brien [1974] 3 All ER 663 (the obtaining of decree nisi), R v Steele (1976) 65 Cr.App.R. 22 (an undertaking by the husband to the court not to molest the wife) and R v Roberts [1986] Crim LR 188 (the existence of a formal separation agreement).

There are at least four recorded instances of a husband successfully relying on the exemption in England and Wales. The first was R v Miller [1954] 2 QB 282, where it was held that the wife had not legally revoked her consent despite having presented a divorce petition. R v Kowalski (1988) 86 Cr. App. R. 339 was followed by R v Sharples [1990] Crim LR 198, and the fourth occurred in 1991 in the case of R v J, a judgment made after the first instance decision of the Crown Court in R v R but before the decision of the House of Lords that was to abolish the exemption. In Miller, Kowalski and R v J the husbands were instead convicted of assault or indecent assault.

R v R in 1991 was the first occasion where the marital rights exemption had been appealed as far as the House of Lords, and it followed the trio of cases since 1988 where the marital rights exemption was upheld. The leading judgment, unanimously approved, was given by Lord Keith of Kinkel. He stated that the contortions being performed in the lower courts in order to avoid applying the marital rights exemption were indicative of the absurdity of the rule, and held, agreeing with earlier judgments in Scotland and in the Court of Appeal in R v R, that “the fiction of implied consent has no useful purpose to serve today in the law of rape” and that the marital rights exemption was a “common law fiction” which had never been a true rule of English law. R’s appeal was accordingly dismissed, and he was convicted of the rape of his wife.

[edit] Marriage after rape

In a variety of cultures, marriage after the fact has been treated historically as a "resolution" to the rape of an unmarried woman. Citing Biblical injunctions (particularly Exodus 22:16–17 and Deuteronomy 22:25–30), Calvinist Geneva permitted a single woman's father to consent to her marriage to her rapist, after which the husband would have no right to divorce; the woman had no separate right to refuse.[49]

Criminal prosecution for rape ends in the event of marriage in Algeria, Lebanon (both as of 2010),[50] Jordan (as of 2009),[51] Cameroon (as of 2007),[52] Brazil (as of 2003),[51] Guatemala (as of 2001),[51] and Bolivia (as of 1999).[53] Such laws were ended in Mexico in 1991, Colombia in 1997, Peru in 1999,[51] and Ethiopia in 2005.[52]

[edit] Prevalence

In 1975, Diana E.H. Russell, a researcher into rape, conducted a study of 930 women from San Francisco, California (50% non-response rate, Asian women were specifically excluded as non-reliable respondents) of whom 644 had husbands to whom they were married, divorced (ex-husbands), or whom they self-identified as a husband although not legally married. 7 of these women (1.1%) reported having been raped by their husbands, while the survey interviewers identified 74 (11.6%) as having been raped. Of the 286 non-married women in the sample, 225 (78.7%) were identified by the interviewers as having been raped. Russell found, however, that when repeated instances within a marriage are included, rape in marriage accounts for 38% of all rape instances, making it a highly neglected area of sexual violence.[54]

A survey by the National Victim Center in Arlington, Virginia states that 10% of all sexual assault cases reported by women involved a husband or ex-husband.

David Finkelhor and Kersti Yllo's 1985 study estimated that 10 to 14 per cent of all married American women have been or will be raped by their husbands. (Finkelhor and Yllo, 1985) A 1997 study led by Kathleen C. Basile found that 13% of US married women had experienced rape (defined as unwanted sex obtained through the use or threat of force) by their current husband.[55]

In 1994, Patricia Easteal, then Senior Criminologist at the Australian Institute of Criminology, published the results of survey on sexual assault in many settings. The respondents had been victims of numerous forms of sexual assault. Of these, 10.4% had been raped by husbands or de facto spouses, with a further 2.3% raped by estranged husbands/de factos.

In the UK, statistics disseminated by the Rape Crisis Federation yield the information that the most common rapists are husbands, ex-husbands, or partners.[56]

The prevalence of marital rape depends on the particularly legal, national and cultural context. In 1999, the World Health Organization conducted a study on violence against women in Tajikistan, surveying 900 women above the age of 14 in three districts of the country and found that 47% of married women reported having been forced to have sex by their husband.[57] In Turkey 35.6% of women have experienced marital rape sometimes and 16.3% often.[58]

[edit] Sustaining factors

Young women from various settings in South Asia explained in surveys that even if they felt discomfort and didn't want to have sex, they accepted their husbands' wishes and submitted, fearing that otherwise they would be beaten.[59] In many developing countries it is believed—by both men and women—that a husband is entitled to sex any time he demands it, and that if his wife refuses him, he has the right to use force.[59] These women, most of them either illiterate or very poorly educated, are married at very young ages (in Bangladesh, for example, according to statistics from 2005, 45% of women then aged between 25–29 had been married by the age of 15[60]), and depend on their husbands for their entire life. This situation leaves women with very little sexual autonomy. Often, when asked by their husbands to have sex, they are not in a position to refuse: they have to choose between unwanted sex and being subjected to violence; or between unwanted sex and being abandoned by their husbands and ending up living in abject poverty.

[edit] Problems in prosecuting spousal rape

There have been many problems with prosecuting the perpetrators of spousal rape, chief amongst them has been the reluctance of the various legal systems to recognize it as a crime at all. However, criminalization has opened a new set of problems. To take an example in the United Kingdom, such a category of rape was only recognized by a 1991 House of Lords decision known simply as R v R (1991 All ER 481). While most parties agreed with the House of Lords' motive in making the decision, there were many (for instance the writer Patricia Hirst in her Textbook on A-Level law)[citation needed] who were of the opinion that the decision involved post facto criminalization, since the House of Lords were imprisoning spouses for doing what was once, according to the law, their right.

The second problem arises on what can be called a procedural level. While the law in theory may hold no distinction between a spouse or any other person, in practice when the case comes to court there will be difficulties in proving that rape in fact took place. This is because in marriage, sexual relations are to be expected, and if the defense claims consent, then the evidential burden is a very difficult burden for the prosecution to discharge.[61]

The very definition of consent can also lead to problems and deadlock, since social norms permit a varying level of physical intimacy (and freedom) depending on the relationship between the parties.

[edit] Countries that have made spousal rape a criminal offence

[edit] Only criminalized when couple is legally separated

  • Bahamas (Termed "spousal sexual assault" eligible for less jail time than charges of rape; requires permission of Attorney General to prosecute)[64]
  • Singapore (legal separation, divorce, restraining order, or attempt by the assaulted party to receive such legal status)[65]
  • Sri Lanka[66][67]
  • Tanzania[68]
  • INDIA (according to Indian Penal Code section 376(A) Intercourse by a man with his wife during separation.—Whoever has sexual intercourse with his wife, who is living separately from him under a decree of separation or under any custom or usage without her consent shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years and shall also be liable to fine.)

[edit] Treated as a form of noncriminal domestic violence

[edit] Countries that have not made marital rape a criminal offense

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ http://www.cities-localgovernments.org/uclg/upload/docs/notaminutemore-endingviolenceagainstwomen.pdf
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ Burman, M.; J. Lovett, L. Kelly (2009). Different systems, similar outcomes? Tracking attrition in reported rape cases in eleven countries. London: Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, London Metropolitan University. p. 106. 
  4. ^ Marital Rape
  5. ^ [2][dead link]
  6. ^ Hasday, Jill Elaine (2000). "Contest and Consent: A Legal History of Marital Rape". California Law Review 88: 1412. 
  7. ^ Stanton: "'Woman's degradation is in man's idea of his sexual rights,' Stanton wrote to Anthony. 'How this marriage question grows on me. It lies at the very foundation of all progress.'" Stone: "It is clear to me, that [the marriage] question underlies, this whole movement and all our little skirmishing for better laws, and the right to vote, will yet be swallowed up, in the real question, viz, has woman, as wife, a right to herself? It is very little to me to have the right to vote, to own property &c. if I may not keep my body, and its uses, in my absolute right. Not one wife in a thousand can do that now, & so long as she suffers this bondage, all other rights will not help her to her true position." Hasday, Jill Elaine (2000). "Contest and Consent: A Legal History of Marital Rape". California Law Review 88: 1425. 
  8. ^ Hasday, Jill Elaine (2000). "Contest and Consent: A Legal History of Marital Rape". California Law Review 88: 1435–43. 
  9. ^ Zakaras, Alex; Maria Morales (2007). "Rational freedom in John Stuart Mill's feminism". In Nadia Urbinati (ed.). J.S. Mill's political thought: A bicentennial reassessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN 9780521860208 0521860202 9780521677561 0521677564. 
  10. ^ Hasday, Jill Elaine (2000). "Contest and Consent: A Legal History of Marital Rape". California Law Review 88: 1444–51. 
  11. ^ Palczewski, Catherine Helen (1995-10-01). "Voltairine de Cleyre: Sexual Slavery and Sexual Pleasure in the Nineteenth Century". NWSA Journal 7 (3): 54–68. ISSN 1040-0656. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.gc.cuny.edu/stable/4316402. Retrieved 2011-03-08. 
  12. ^ Hasday, Jill Elaine (2000). "Contest and Consent: A Legal History of Marital Rape". California Law Review 88: 1482–1505. 
  13. ^ Frank, David John; Bayliss J. Camp, Steven A. Boutcher (2010-12-01). "Worldwide Trends in the Criminal Regulation of Sex, 1945 to 2005". American Sociological Review 75 (6): 867–893. doi:10.1177/0003122410388493. http://asr.sagepub.com.ezproxy.gc.cuny.edu/content/75/6/867.abstract. Retrieved 2011-03-07. 
  14. ^ UNICEF, The Progress of Nations, 1997, 48.
  15. ^ a b Report of the Secretary-General, In-depth study on all forms of violence against women, United Nations, UN Doc A/61/122/Add.1, 6 July 2006.
  16. ^ The first criminal law code in Soviet Russia differed from Tsarist law on rape: "although the Tsarist law explicitly excluded marital rape, the Soviet law code of 1922 did not." Rule, Wilma (1996). Russian women in politics and society. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 160. ISBN 9780313293634.  Marital rape was explicitly included in the 1960 code.
  17. ^ a b Elman, R Amy (1996). Sexual subordination and state intervention: comparing Sweden and the United States. Berghahn Books. p. 90. ISBN 1571810714. 
  18. ^ Geis, Gilbert (1977). "Rape-in-marriage: Law and law reform in England, the United States, and Sweden". Adelaide Law Review 6: 284. 
  19. ^ David Kauzlarich, Introduction to Criminology, 2008, p. 79.
  20. ^ a b Jennifer Temkin, Rape and the legal process, p. 86.
  21. ^ http://www.statcan.gc.ca/imdb-bmdi/document/3306_D6_T9_V5-eng.htm
  22. ^ http://www.statcan.gc.ca/kits-trousses/justice/8104299-eng.pdf
  23. ^ The New York Times, Marital rape: Drive for tougher laws is pressed, 13 May 1987
  24. ^ [3]
  25. ^ a b Simon, Rita James (2001-05). A comparative perspective on major social problems. Lexington Books. p. 20. ISBN 9780739102480. 
  26. ^ Bensussan, P.. "Marital rape according to French law: Desire, need and consent". Sexologies 18 (3): 182–185. doi:10.1016/j.sexol.2009.04.001. ISSN 1158-1360. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B82YG-4WD116V-4/2/e9bef47b8067dd8a064441e205f26248. Retrieved 2011-03-09. 
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  28. ^ Justin Huggler, "India abolishes husbands' 'right' to rape wife," Independent (London), October 27, 2006.
  29. ^ South Asia Research Institute for Policy and Development, India’s landmark domestic abuse law takes effect, October 26, 2006.
  30. ^ The Nation,Anger over proposed change to rape laws, 14 February 2007
  31. ^ Anti-Discrimination Committee Takes Up Situation of Women in Turkey, UN Information Service, 21 January 2005.
  32. ^ UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) (20 January 2011). "Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture: Cambodia". CAT/C/KHM/CO/2. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4d6ccc7a2.html. Retrieved 8 March 2011. 
  33. ^ Bhattarai, Tara (2012-01-18). "Taboos Undercut Nepal's Marital Rape Law". Womens eNews. http://www.womensenews.org/story/rape/120117/taboos-undercut-nepals-marital-rape-law. Retrieved 2012-01-31. 
  34. ^ Collen, Lindsey; Kistnasamy, Kisna; Lallah, Rajni (23 April 2007). "Rape and the Sexual Offences Bill: Beyond the illogical, punitive attitude...". l'express. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070927215929/http://www.lexpress.mu/archive_semaine/display_article.php?news_id=85151. 
  35. ^ Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Its Causes and Consequences, Yakin Ertürk : addendum: mission to Ghana, 2008.
  36. ^ MP Teresa Kok, Mixed reaction to marital rape reform, Sassy MP, September 15, 2007.
  37. ^ AP, "Malaysian jailed for marital rape," Sydney Morning Herald, August 6, 2009.
  38. ^ "Thailand outlaws marital rape," AFP, June 22, 2007.
  39. ^ "In its response to questions posed by the United Nations (UN) Committee on Human Rights, the government of Tunisia declared that, under Articles 227 and 227 bis of the penal code, marital rape, like all other forms of rape, is a crime under Tunisian law (Tunisia 25 Feb. 2008; ibid. 1 Oct. 1913, Art. 227). Under Article 227 of the Tunisian penal code, sexual assault accompanied by acts of violence or threats with a weapon is punishable by death, while, for other cases of rape, the prescribed punishment is life imprisonment (Tunisia 1 Oct. 1913). [US State Department] Country Reports for 2008 indicates that 'the government enforced the laws vigorously ... however, there were no reports of prosecution for spousal rape' in 2008 (US 25 Feb. 2009, Sec. 5)." Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Tunisia: Domestic violence, legislation and protection available to victims (2007-2009), 24 November 2009, TUN103273.FE, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4b20f04a3c.html [accessed 3 August 2010]
  40. ^ Rwanda: Final steps towards the adoption of a law to combat gender violence
  41. ^ [5]
  42. ^ In Jamaica women’s groups react to Senate passing Sexual Offences Bill, July 28, 2009.
  43. ^ Sumie Asatori and Fumi Suzuki, Discrimination in the field of Reproductive and Sexual Rights in Japan, Space Allies (Women's Rights NGO), July 2008.
  44. ^ Sexual Assault Laws in the CEE/FSU Region
  45. ^ International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, "Kazakhstan," in Women 2000: An Investigation into the Status of Women's Rights in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States (9 November 2000).
  46. ^ "The Krugersdorp Magistrate's Court sentenced her 48-year-old former husband [Frederik Christiaan Bossert] to an effective 12 years in jail last week for physically abusing and repeatedly raping [Annelise] Kriek during their marriage. Kriek's court action became the first reported case of rape in a marriage since the Domestic Violence Act was introduced in 1996." Chelemu, Khethiwe. "Wife's seven-year wait for justice". Times (Johannesburg). http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2012/01/19/wife-s-seven-year-wait-for-justice. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
  47. ^ "[1991] UKHL 12". BAILII. http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1991/12.html. Retrieved 19 December 2010. 
  48. ^ [1992] 1 AC 599, [1991] 3 WLR 767, [1991] 4 All ER 481, (1991) 135 SJLB 181, [1992] 1 FZR 217, (1991) 155 JP 989, (1992) 94 Cr App R 216, [1992] Fam Law 108, [1992] Crim LR 207, (1991) 155 JPN 752, (1991) 141 NLJ 1481, [1991] UKHL 12, (1991) The Times, 24 October 1991, (1991) The Independent, 24 October 1991, (1991) The Guardian, 30 October 1991, HL, affirming [1991] 2 WLR 1065, [1991] 2 All ER 257, (1991) 135 SJ 384, (1991) 93 Cr App R 1, (1991) 155 JP 373, [1991] Crim LR 475, (1991) 155 JPN 236, (1991) 141 NLJ 383, (1991) The Times, 15 March 1991, (1991) The Independent, 15 March 1991, (1991) The Guardian, 15 March 1991, CA, affirming [1991] 1 All ER 747
  49. ^ Witte, John; Robert M. Kingdon (2005). Sex, marriage, and family life in John Calvin's Geneva. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.. pp. 120–22. ISBN 0802848036 9780802848031. 
  50. ^ a b c d e f g Freedom House (2010-03), Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa 2010, http://freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=383&key=24&parent=23&report=86 
  51. ^ a b c d Warrick, Catherine. (2009). Law in the service of legitimacy: Gender and politics in Jordan. Farnham, Surrey, England; Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Pub.. p. 66. ISBN 9780754675877 0754675874. 
  52. ^ a b Barad, E.; E. Slattery, and the following: Enikő Horváth, Monwabisi Zukani, Desmond Eppel, Monica Kays, Abdoul Konare, Yeora S. Park, Ekaterina Y. Pischalnikova, Nathaniel Stankard and Tally Zingher With the assistance of: Alana F. Montas and Nicole Manara (2007). "Gender-Based Violence Laws in Sub-Saharan Africa". Report prepared for the Committee on African Affairs of the New York City Bar: 30. 
  53. ^ Código Penal of Bolivia, Art. 317.
  54. ^ Russell, 1990 (Please add title of journal, etc. Author and year are insufficient to locate reference.)
  55. ^ Basile, Kathleen C. (2002-10). "Prevalence of Wife Rape and Other Intimate Partner Sexual Coercion in a Nationally Representative Sample of Women". Violence and Victims 17 (5): 511. ISSN 0886-6708. 
  56. ^ Myhill and Allen, Rape and Sexual Assault of Women: Findings from the British Crime Survey
  57. ^ [6]
  58. ^ [7]
  59. ^ a b [8]
  60. ^ [9]
  61. ^ http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0205/0205sprape.htm
  62. ^ 2009 Human Rights Report: Mauritania
  63. ^ U.S. State Department 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
  64. ^ "Sexual Offences Act of the Bahamas". Government of the Bahamas. http://www.oas.org/dil/Sexual_Offences_and_Domestic_Violence_Act_Bahamas.pdf. 
  65. ^ Equality Now (2010), Words and Deeds: Holding Governments Accountable in the Beijing +15 Review Process, http://equalitynow.org/english/campaigns/beijing15/report_en.html, retrieved 2011-03-07 
  66. ^ Goonesekere, Savitri (2004). Violence, law and women's rights in South Asia. SAGE. pp. 60–61. ISBN 9780761997962. 
  67. ^ Fernando, Vijita (2008-10-14). "Sri Lanka: Island Dilemma: Is It Marital Rape or Domestic Violence?". News Blaze. http://newsblaze.com/story/20081014080156zzzz.nb/topstory.html. Retrieved 2010-07-21. 
  68. ^ a b c d Karen Stefiszyn, "A Brief Overview of Recent Developments in Sexual Offences Legislation in Southern Africa," United Nations, EGM/GPLVAW/2008/EP.04, 12 May 2008
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  70. ^ Justin Huggler, "India abolishes husbands' 'right' to rape wife," Independent (London), October 27, 2006.
  71. ^ South Asia Research Institute for Policy and Development, India’s landmark domestic abuse law takes effect, October 26, 2006.
  72. ^ "Our breakthrough finally came in September 2004. After years of effort, the parliament passed the law on violence against women in the home (Law No. 23/2004). The new law outlaws four forms of violence – physical, psychological, sexual (including marital rape), and economic neglect. Significantly the law makes ‘criminal’ violence against all members of the household, including husbands, wives, children and extended family members." Ratna Bataramunti "Justice for women? New anti-domestic violence law brings hope for women," Inside Indonesia, July-September 2006.
  73. ^ "Rape is not a crime in the Afghan Penal Code. Under the code, rapists can only be charged with “forced” zina, or adultery, which sometimes results in women also being prosecuted for zina." Human Rights Watch (2009). "We Have the Promises of the World": Women’s Rights in Afghanistan. Human Rights Watch. 
  74. ^ US State Department (March 11, 2010). "Bolivia". 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/wha/136102.htm. Retrieved 8 March 2011. 
  75. ^ "The 'Explanation' which forms part of Article 375 of Brunei’s Penal Code (rape) stipulates that 'Sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under thirteen (13) years of age, is not rape.' This amounts to legalisation and legitimization of marital rape, including the rape of children, in flagrant violation of international human rights law." Amnesty International, "Brunei Darussalam: Amnesty International submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review," Sixth session of the UPR Working Group, November–December 2009.
  76. ^ "Marital rape is not illegal as long as the marriage was freely consented to between the rapist and the victim and the victim was of age [(16 or over)] at the time of the rape." "Allegedly false rape reports make authorities skeptical, discourage victims in Cameroon". TrustLaw. 2012-01-28. http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/allegedly-false-rape-reports-make-authorities-skeptical-discourage-victims-in-cameroon. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
  77. ^ Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre (ARROW). "China: MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Woman". http://www.mdg5watch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=93&Itemid=155#_edn21. Retrieved 8 March 2011. "China has no legal provisions for marital rape and the main reason for this is in deference to a prevailing cultural perception that wives are supposed to submit to their husband’s wishes in matters of sexual relations and hence, there is no such concept of ‘rape’ within marriage or ‘rape’ being considered a form of violence within the marriage." 
  78. ^ Peterman, Amber; Tia Palermo, Caryn Bredenkamp (2011-06). "Estimates and Determinants of Sexual Violence Against Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo". American Journal of Public Health 101 (6): 1060-1067. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2010.300070. ISSN 00900036. 
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  83. ^ Westmarland, Nicole; Geetanjali Gangoli (2011-04-06). International Approaches to Rape. The Policy Press. ISBN 9781847426208. 
  84. ^ UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (24 July 2009). "Lao People’s Democratic Republic boasts new legislation, machinery to improve women’s lot, but expert committee faults rape, domestic violence policies". WOM/1743. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2009/wom1743.doc.htm. Retrieved 8 March 2011. 
  85. ^ The situation of sexual violence and rape and relevant legislation in Mongolia
  86. ^ Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (7 November 2008). "Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Myanmar". CEDAW/C/MMR/CO/3. p. para. 46. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs5/CEDAW-C-MMR-CO-3.pdf. Retrieved 8 March 2011. 
  87. ^ Human Rights Watch (2007-04-10). Human Rights Watch World Report 2007. Seven Stories Press. pp. 300–301. ISBN 9781583227404. 
  88. ^ "2009 Human Rights Report: Saudi Arabia". U.S. State Department. 11 March 2010. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/nea/136079.htm. Retrieved 21 September 2010. 
  89. ^ UK Home Office (2010-09-03), Country of Origin Information Report - The Syrian Arab Republic, http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?page=search&docid=4c84c0fb2&skip=0&query=syria%20marital%20rape, retrieved 2011-03-08 
  90. ^ "Section 118(2) of the Criminal Offences Act". The Secretary Generals database on violence against women. http://webapps01.un.org/vawdatabase/searchDetail.action?measureId=10689&baseHREF=country&baseHREFId=1305. Retrieved 2011-03-07. 
  91. ^ Women & Children Crisis Centre. "Gaps in Tongan Rape Law need to be addressed::". http://www.wccc.tbu.to/news/gaps-in-tongan-rape-law-need-to-be-addressed/. Retrieved 2011-03-07. 
  92. ^ Akumu, Patience (May 26, 2010). "The phenomenon of marital rape". The Observer. http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8645%3Athe-phenomenon-of-marital-rape&catid=73%3Ahighlights&Itemid=70. 
  93. ^ "A clause outlawing marital rape has been dropped because of cultural considerations." Fidgen, Jo (2009-11-30). "Zambia's celebrity couple reveal wife-beating past". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8375291.stm. Retrieved 2010-07-22. 
  94. ^ "But Zambia does not have a comprehensive law on sexual violence or a provision for marital rape or psychological abuse in its penal code." Human Rights Watch (2008-12-16). "Zambia: Curbing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence". http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,HRW,,ZMB,494b62e917,0.html. Retrieved 2010-07-22. 

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