A bill amending Law No. 286/2009 on the Criminal Code and amending and supplementing Law No. 26/2024 on protection orders (PL-X 54/2024 – https://www.cdep.ro/pls/proiecte/upl_pck2015) was sent for promulgation today.draft

Among the topics being discussed today on social media is the law passed in Norway that changes the definition of rape. 𝗖𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝘂𝗻𝗲𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗹 𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗮𝗻? The Norwegian Penal Code (Section 291) had a definition of rape similar to that in Romania – 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘢 𝘶𝘯𝘶𝘪 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘹𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢̂𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘤𝘶 𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘢𝘯𝘢̆ 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘶 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴̦𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢̆ 𝘴𝘢𝘶, 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, so that we may all be united 𝘰𝘳𝘪 𝘧𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘪 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵̦𝘢̆ 𝘴𝘢𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢in the context of 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢̆ 𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘢𝘯𝘢̆ 𝘴𝘢̆ 𝘪̂𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘵̦𝘪𝘯𝘢̆ 𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘹𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶 𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘢̆ 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘢𝘯𝘢̆ 𝘴𝘢𝘶 𝘴𝘢̆ 𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘦𝘻𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘻𝘢̆𝘵𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘪 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢̆𝘵̦𝘪 𝘴𝘦𝘹𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘳𝘢 𝘴𝘢. The penalty is imprisonment for up to 10 years. The Criminal Code in English can be read here: https://lovdata.no/dokument/NLE/lov/2005-05-20-28/*#&#x2a What about other situations? There are other situations in which a sexual act may be committed without consent that are not covered by such regulations. My colleagues have written extensively on these issues in the context of the legislative changes in 2023/2024, which were also discussed at the conference held in December 2022 – a

The Official Gazette No. 522 of June 4, 2025, published ICCJ Decision No. 189/2025 – Criminal Case regarding the offense of sexual assault committed against a minor (the issue is identical, however, in the case of adults as well). Specifically: In the case in which the complaint was filed, a woman was brought to trial who, in 2022, induced her minor daughter, aged three and a half years “𝑠𝑎̆ 𝑖̂𝑖 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑧𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑧𝑢𝑎𝑙, 𝑖̂𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑝𝑒, organic, pre-computer era𝑟𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑎̆ 𝑎 𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑖𝑎 𝑐𝑢 𝑚𝑎̂𝑛𝑎, 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑖̂𝑛𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑑𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑎̆ 𝑐𝑢 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑒“Fonul Mobil,” 𝑖𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑎̆ 𝑠𝑎̆𝑝𝑡𝑎̂𝑚𝑎̂𝑛𝑖 𝑚𝑎𝑖 𝑡𝑎̂𝑟𝑧𝑖𝑢 “𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑖-𝑎 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑖 𝑠𝑎̆ 𝑜 𝑠𝑎̆𝑟𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑠̧𝑖 𝑠̧𝑖-𝑎 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑏𝑎 𝑖̂𝑛 𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑎 𝑎𝑐𝑒“𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑎”. The court of first instance held that “𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑎̆ 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑎̆ 𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑎̆ 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑛𝑢 𝑎 𝑢𝑟𝑚𝑎̆𝑟𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑎̆ 𝑜𝑏𝑡̧𝑖𝑛𝑎̆ 𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡̧𝑖𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑎̆, new 𝑐𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑧𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎̂𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒 𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑢𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑎̆ 𝑖̂𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑖 𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑒.” The prosecution filed an appeal. In the appeal, the High Court

Two weeks ago, during the victimology course in Dubrovnik, we attended a very interesting presentation by Prof. Hans-Jörg Albrecht and Anna-Maria Getos Kalac on 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝 (or femicide). The professors pointed out that classifying this behavior as a distinct crime actually has no preventive effect and that scientific studies do not support such criminalization; rather, it actually creates problems with law enforcement. The presentation caused a stir in the room, with one participant exclaiming, “𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑, 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠?” The tragedy in Cosmopolis highlights the need for 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 regarding domestic violence, gender-based violence, risk assessment, and other related issues. This need is essential in Romanian society (and beyond). However, just like the professors mentioned above, I believe that using criminal law to address this need must be viewed with caution. 𝐌𝐚𝐢 𝐢̂𝐧𝐭𝐚̂𝐢, 𝐜𝐞 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐥? The definitions proposed in