Criminal Intervention Patterns in the Scope of Marital Rape, Comparative Study

Marital rape as one of the types of domestic violence against women is not a novel phenomenon; however, only in recent decades has it been considered by criminal justice systems to confront with. International documents have pointed out that the marital relationship should not be accepted as a factor to justify sexual violence, according to which the domestic violence is not a simple family conflict, but a social problem threatening the public health. Therefore, member states have been called upon to eliminate or reduce domestic violence through criminal intervention which has been recognized in many countries as essential to confront marital rape. However, legislators do not follow a single pattern in this context. Careful reviewing the different countrieschr(chr('39')39chr('39')) laws about marital rape, we can identify four patterns of criminalization and three ones for penalization. Applying a descriptive-analytical approach, this study is aiming to first provide evidences of different countrieschr(chr('39')39chr('39')) criminal law, and then analyze the justifiable reasons for their obligation to each of such patterns. Furthermore, investigating the current situation of Iranian law, this article is seeking to find solutions for criminal intervention of Iranian legislator in this field through referring to the jurisprudential (Fiqhi) sources.