Purpose
The Law n° 1.517 of December 23, 2021 reforming the provisions relating to the offence of sexual assaults has in fact a much broader scope. This law actually overhauls all the provisions of the Penal Code intended to deal with sexual offences and also amends certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
This law, under the impetus of the Committee for the Promotion and Protection of Women's Rights and the Secretary of State for Justice Robert Gelli, aims to modernize the texts of offences and to strengthen the protection of victims.
Main inputs
- Redefining certain offences, in particular:
- Public indecency is now punishable under the offense of sexual exhibition;
- Indecent assault is now punishable under the offence of sexual molestation or, in the case of an indecent assault committed or attempted with violence, under the offence of sexual assault;
- Rape no longer necessarily implies an act of sexual penetration: it can also be stated in case of an oral-genital act.
- Definition of incest.
- Undisputed presumption of absence of consent of the victim
(constitutive element of the offences of rape and sexual assault):
- in case of an incest committed on a minor, whatever the age of the latter;
- in cases other than incest, for minors under the age of 13.
- When the victim is a minor, setting the statute of limitations for sexual offences and sexual assault at 20 years from the date of the victim's majority.
- Introduction of a distinction in the Penal Code between moral harassment and sexual harassment.
- Easier clasification in case of moral harassment committed by several authors.
- Increased repression of moral harassment at work.
- Introduction in the Penal Code of the offence of sexual blackmail outside the hypothesis of an employment relationship.
- Introduction of new aggravating circumstances.
- In case of a crime or misdemeanor against the person, introduction of the possibility for incapacitated adult victims (and no longer only minor victims) – by decision of the public prosecutor or the investigating judge, if necessary at the request of the incapacitated adult or their guardian, curator, or authorized representative in case of enduring power of attorney – to benefit from the presence of a psychologist or a doctor, or a member of the incapacitated adult's family or the ad hoc administrator, during hearings or confrontations in the course of the investigation.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
