Sex and gender characteristics in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Croatia with special reference to the criminal offences of rape and domestic violence

Abstract

The study deals with the issue of whether the norms of criminal law make a distinction between male and female sex with regard to the perpetrator of the criminal offence as well as with regard to the victim of the criminal offence and also the issue of whether male or female sex have any role in the criminal law. It is with this objective in mind that the author analyzed the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Croatia and statistical data on total crime in the Republic of Croatia and the relation between male and female perpetrators of criminal offences. The statistical data reveal that men commit a far greater number of offences than women. Apart from this, women and men also differ according to the type of the criminal offence they tend to commit. Women as perpetrators of criminal offences that involve the element of violence are very rare. At the same time, women are very often victims of violent offences perpetrated by men, which leads us to the term of gender-based violence. Although significant steps forward have been made at the normative level in the Republic of Croatia in defining and sanctioning of genderbased violence, gender stereotypes can still be observed in practice when sexual crimes are in question so that we can witness domestic violence on a daily basis. All of this leads to the conclusion that it is necessary to make further efforts in order to remove all obstacles that prevent changes in social relations and ensure equality between women and men, not only de jure but also de facto.