Preface

Abstract

Extract The idea behind this book was to bring together a group of scholars from different countries who had written about sexual assault law and consent and who had participated in the preparation of law reforms. I had been critical of the old German law and had been involved in the reform process that eventually led to the new sexual assault law in 2016, and I was curious to hear more about the observations, challenges, and approaches taken in other legal systems. Our project focused on the recent introduction of consent-based sexual assault laws in several jurisdictions. These changes are controversial not only in the political arena; they also provide plenty of material for lively discussions among legal scholars and philosophers. Both the ‘if’ (the desirability of expanding criminal prohibitions) and the ‘how’ (the substance of new offence descriptions and definitions) were the subject of debate. Now is a good time to take a closer, comparative look at the premises and the details of sexual assault laws and to draw some conclusions for future law reforms. We, the authors of the chapters in this volume, met twice in workshops to discuss foundational questions and to become familiar with the transnational developments in criminal law. Despite the obstacles to international travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we even managed to meet once in person—in Berlin, in November 2021.