Criminological and legal challenges presented by sexual violence against women in Cuba

Abstract

Some elements of a research work on sexual violence against women in Cuba from a socio-criminological and legal perspective are summarized in this article. The information provided, which reinforces the theoretical content, comes from an analysis of criminal sentences and from a Survey of Sexual Victimization. The said criminal sentences, published in 34 Bulletins of the People’s Supreme Court between the years 1974 and 2016 (last year of publication), make reference to 1,182 offenses, whereas the studied population comprises 113 convictions for 166 sexual crimes whose factual content was studied. The Survey of Victimization collected data on perception of safety, fear of sexual violence and triggering factors, direct and indirect sexual victimization, and social reaction.

As the first publicly available statistical source about sexual violence in Cuba, these data point to important conclusions about the development of victimogenesis, the features that sufficiently define the identity of victims and victimizers to carry out a criminal process, and the prevailing state of opinion about various related social factors, all of which responds to our methodological goals. Likewise, they made it possible to both confirm the existence of limitations in the field of Law and suggest relevant modifications to the content and interpretation of criminal regulations.