User:Carwil/Marital rape laws by country

Despite these trends and international moves, criminalization has not occurred in all

. Determining the criminal status of marital rape may be challenging, because, while some countries explicitly criminalize the act (by stipulating in their rape laws that marriage is not a defense to a charge of rape; or by creating a specific crime of 'marital rape'; or, otherwise, by having statutory provisions that expressly state that a spouse can be charged with the rape of their other spouse) and other countries explicitly exempt spouses (by defining rape as forced sexual intercourse outside of marriage; or forced sexual intercourse with a woman not the perpetrator's wife; or by providing in their rape provisions that marriage is a defense to a charge of rape), in many countries the ordinary rape laws are silent on the issue (that is, they do not address the issue one way or another)—in such cases, in order to determine whether marital rape is covered by the ordinary rape laws it must be analyzed whether there are judicial decisions in this respect; and former definitions of the law are also important (for instance whether there was previously a statutory exemption that was removed by legislators for the purpose of implicitly including marital rape).

An example of a country where the rape law explicitly excludes a husband as a possible perpetrator is Ethiopia; its rape law states:^[1] "Article 620 - Rape: Whoever compels a woman to submit to sexual intercourse outside wedlock, whether by the use of violence or grave intimidation, or after having rendered her unconscious or incapable of resistance, is punishable with rigorous imprisonment from five years to fifteen years". Another example is South Sudan, where the law states: "Sexual intercourse by a married couple is not rape, within the meaning of this section". (Art 247).^[2] Conversely, an example of country where the rape law explicitly criminalizes marital rape is Namibia - The Combating of Rape Act (No. 8 of 2000) states that: "No marriage or other relationship shall constitute a defence to a charge of rape under this Act".^[3] An example of a jurisdiction where marital rape is a distinct criminal offense is Bhutan where 'Marital rape' is defined by Article 199 which reads: "A defendant shall be guilty of marital rape, if the defendant engages in sexual intercourse with one's own spouse without consent or against the will of the other spouse".^[4]

Country	Date first criminalized	Type of legal act	Secondary date	Type of legal act	Description of criminalization	Current status
Soviet Union	1922	Criminal code (non-explicit)	1960	Criminal law code (explicit)	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."[5] Marital rape was explicitly included in the 1960 code.	Remained criminal through dissolution of Soviet Union.
Poland	1932				[6]	Criminal.[7]
Czechoslovakia	1950				[6]	Remains criminal in the successor states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia[7]
Sweden	1965	Criminal code (explicit)			Under a 1965 revision of the criminal code, spouses who rape could be charged with sexual assault, subject to no more than four years imprisonment; strangers who commit rape were subject to 2 to 10 years imprisonment. As of 1976, this legal change resulted in just four reports to the police and no convictions.[6]	Criminal
Slovenia (then a republic within Yugoslavia	1977	Criminal code (distinct offense)	1995	Criminal code	With the new 1974 Yugoslav Constitution each republic adopted their own Criminal Act, with Socialist Republic of Slovenia introducing rape of wife in its 1977 Criminal Act; (any) rape is not gender specific since 1995 Criminal Code (Art. 180), current Criminal CodMae is from 2008 (Art. 170)	Criminal
Israel	1980	Court decision			The Israeli Supreme Court affirmed that marital rape is a crime in a 1980 decision, citing law based on the Talmud.[8][9]	Criminal
Namibia	19 April 2000	Criminal code (explicit)			Article 2(3) of the Combating of Rape Act, No. 8 of 2000, states "No marriage or other relationship shall constitute a defence to a charge of rape under this Act."[3]	Criminal
Bhutan	2004	Criminal code (distinct offense)			The Bhutan Penal Code of 2004 defines marital rape as a separate offense and a petty misdemeanor in Articles 199 and 200.[4] Rape itself (Art. 177-178) is a fourth degree misdemeanor.[4]	Criminal (lesser charge than rape)

Countries where marital rape is explicitly legal

Country	Most Recent Date	Type of legal act	Description of legality	Form of legality
Ethiopia	2004	Criminal code	"Article 620 - Rape: Whoever compels a woman to submit to sexual intercourse outside wedlock, whether by the use of violence or grave intimidation, or after having rendered her unconscious or incapable of resistance, is punishabl with rigorous imprisonment from five years to fifteen years"[5]	Excluded from rape law
South Sudan	2009	Criminal code	Article 247 of the Penal Code Act, 2008, states "Sexual intercourse by a married couple is not rape, within the meaning of this section."[2]	Excluded from rape law