Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti called on Thursday for “caution” in the face of calls for a revision of the criminal definition of rape in France, warning against a “slide towards contractualization of sexual relations”. “French legislation on rape is undoubtedly the most repressive in Europe: 15 years of criminal imprisonment up to life (…) when Spain has set a sentence of 6 to 12 years since 2022,” said – he argued during a hearing before the delegation for women’s rights in the Senate.
A bill aimed at integrating consent tabled in the Senate
“Our definition of rape protects the victims and makes it possible to heavily sanction the perpetrators by seeking to demonstrate the responsibility of the aggressor who imposes a non-consensual sexual relationship,” he added. Currently, article 222-23 of the Penal Code defines rape as “any act of sexual penetration, of whatever nature, or any oral-genital act committed on the person of another or on the person of the perpetrator by violence, coercion, threat or surprise”.
Voices have been raised for several months to review this definition and include in particular the notion of consent. A bill to this effect was notably tabled in the fall by environmentalist senator Mélanie Vogel. The question is also the subject of a parliamentary fact-finding mission which should deliver its conclusions in the spring. “Is it the role of criminal law to define the consent of a victim, instead of focusing on defining the responsibility of a criminal?” declared Éric Dupond-Moretti, pointing out “risks of slippage towards a contractualization of sexual relations which, I believe, no one wants.”
“I want to warn here about the risk of putting the focus on the victim when the only person responsible is the rapist. The major risk is to place the proof of consent on the victim,” he added. The debate in France echoes ongoing discussions in Brussels around a directive on the fight against violence against women. Several countries, including France and Germany, are opposed to a European definition of rape based on the absence of consent, believing that rape does not have the cross-border dimension necessary to be considered a “Eurocrime”.
“Some have exploited this debate to say that France was retrograde: it is first, above all, and only in our eyes, a debate on the Union’s competences and doctrine,” said the Minister of Justice, deeming it “essential not to take the risk of a text being annulled by the Court of Justice of the European Union.”