Citation

Vargas Cuno M. Sex. Health Exch. 1998; (1): 9.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Royal Tropical Institute)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12348697

Abstract

Estudio para la Defensa de Los Derechos de la Mujeri (DEMUA), a legal aid nongovernmental organization in Peru, organized a workshop to sensitize and train judges on sexual violence from a gender perspective and assess judges' perceptions of the problem. A total of 42 judges and seven staff members from the Judicial Control Office participated. Some participating judges maintained a formalistic approach to the law, which states sexual abuse is aggravated only if weapons were used and more than one perpetrator was involved and requires evidence of bodily harm for a rape charge, while others were less stringent about their interpretations. The latter group of judges tended to view sexual abuse as a crime that deprives victims of their liberty and harms their physical, sexual, and psychological health. 57% of participating judges indicated, at the end of the workshop, that the laws should be changed in terms of preventing and punishing sexual offenses and making marital rape a crime and wanted reassessment of the criteria for aggravated assault.

Language: en