What the law on rape and sexual assault says

In France, rape became a crime in 1980 and no longer an offense. What led to requalification? The trial, in 1974, of Anne Tonglet and Araceli Castellano, two Belgian tourists who were the victim of rape in a meeting, while they camped in a creeks of naturists. A case that scandalized public opinion, reported in fiction Rapebroadcast on September 19 on France 3 at 8:55 p.m. Nowadays, Any sexual act (touching, caresses, penetration, etc.) committed with violence, constraint, threat or surprise is prohibited by law and penalized criminal. The rape is the most severely punished sexual assault.

Rape is a crime. According to article 222-23 of the penal code, it is defined as Any act of sexual penetrationof whatever kind, committed on the person of others by violence, constraint, threat or surprise is rape. The sentence incurred is fifteen years imprisonment, but it can extend twenty In the following cases:

• When he has led to mutilation or permanent infirmity
• When he is committed on a fifteen year old minor
• When committed on a person whose particular vulnerability, due to his age, to an illness, to an infirmity, to a physical or mental impairment or to a state of pregnancy, is apparent or known to the author
• When committed by an ascendant or by any other person who has a law authority or de facto on the victim
• When he is committed by a person who abuses the authority given to him
• When committed by several people acting as author or accomplice
• When committed with use or threat of a weapon
• When the victim was brought into contact with the author of the facts thanks to the use, for the dissemination of messages for an undefined audience, an electronic communication network
• When committed in competition with one or more other rapes committed on other victims
• When committed by the victim’s spouse or partner of the victim by a civil solidarity pact
• When committed by a person acting in a manifest state of drunkenness or under the manifest grip of narcotic products
• When committed, in the exercise of this activity, on a person who gives himself up to prostitution, including occasionally

The rape is punished with Thirty years of criminal imprisonment When he led to the death of the victim, and life imprisonment when preceded, accompanied or followed by tortures or barbarism acts. Also, since February 2017, The limitation period has gone from ten to twenty years For crimes committed on adults. For minors, it is possible to file a complaint up to twenty years after the majority (38 years).

Apart from rape, all other sexual assaults are criminal. Constitutes a sexual assault any sexual attack committed with violence, constraint, threat or surprise (article 222-22 of the penal code). This brings together Sexual caresses and touching. The sentence incurred for sexual assault other than rape is to five years’ imprisonment and 75,000 euros fine. It can extend to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros:

• When she led to an injury or a lesion;
• When he is committed by an ascendant or by any other person having on the victim a law or de facto authority;
• When he is committed by a person who abuses the authority given to him by his functions;
• When he is committed by several people acting as author or accomplice;
• When it is committed with use or threat of a weapon;
• When the victim was put in contact with the author of the facts thanks to the use, for the dissemination of messages for an unrecognized audience, an electronic communication network;
• When he is committed by the victim’s spouse or partner of the victim by a civil solidarity pact;
• When he is committed by a person acting in a manifest state of drunkenness or under the manifest grip of narcotic products;
• When he is committed, in the exercise of this activity, on a person who gives himself up to prostitution, including occasionally.
• When imposed on a person whose particular vulnerability due to their age, illness, infirmity, physical or mental disability or a state of pregnancy is apparent or known to its author.

Sexual assaults are punished by ten years’ imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros:

• When she led to an injury or a lesion
• When he is committed by an ascendant or by any other person having on the victim a law or de facto authority;
• When he is committed by a person who abuses the authority given to him
• When he is committed by several people acting as author or accomplice
• When it is committed with use or threat of a weapon
• When imposed on a fifteen year old minor
• When he is committed by a person acting in a manifest state of drunkenness or under the manifest grip of narcotic products

The limitation period is three years. It is brought to ten years After the majority for minors (up to his 28th birthday).