Published this Tuesday, a parliamentary report recommends adding the notion of non-consent to the criminal definition of rape.
“For lack of a clear definition”, “consent is often exploited by the attackers”, fueling “stereotypes about rape”, complicating the filing of complaints and generating “numerous dismissals, to the detriment of the victims”, states a report parliamentary published this Tuesday, January 21 which pleads for an evolution of the criminal definition of rape and sexual assault. Led by Ensemble MP Véronique Riotton and environmentalist MP Marie-Charlotte Garin, the parliamentary mission considers it important that the notion of non-consent, already present in Belgian or Spanish law, be integrated.
“We have become firmly convinced that the law must be changed, by modifying the Penal Code to introduce the notion of consent. But not at all costs,” explains to franceinfo Marie-Charlotte Garin. The idea: add non-consent to the four already existing criteria, namely “the use of violence, threat, coercion or surprise”. While a bill, which takes up the conclusions of the report, was tabled this Tuesday afternoon, the MP affirms that “by broadening the definition of rape and sexual assault beyond the four existing criteria , we give an additional tool to judges to better assess the situations they are faced with.
But some feminist activists have already expressed their concerns. Some associations fear that situations in which consent is extorted and coerced will not be taken into account or that the notion of consent will bias the investigation, with a focus no longer on the behavior of the accused, but on that of the victim. “In reality, the focus of investigators is already on the victim,” estimates Marie-Charlotte Garin to franceinfo. And to try to reassure: “Moreover, the choice of writing that we made in the proposed law responds to this concern, since we tell the judge that we must be interested in the way in which the “The accused ensured that he had obtained the consent of the person in front of him. The attention is therefore on him.” As for the risk of “contractualization of sexual relations”, denounced by opponents, the MP assures her, there is no question of signing a contract. “When you borrow a colleague’s pen or knock before entering their office, you are already asking for their consent, and that’s called communication.”