ABSTRACT
This research project titled: An Appraisal of the Offence of Rape under the Nigerian Criminal Justice System, seeks to peruse and appraise the position of the criminal justice system as it appertains to the offence of rape. Emphasis is laid on the adequacy of the present state of the law of rape, the main object being the proffering of suggestions for modulation of the current position, with a view to curbing the crime and filling the lacunae in its definitions. The phenomenon of rape has both social and psychological effects in the society. This project sets to demystify the offence of rape under the Nigerian criminal justice system identifying the social, psychological and medical aftermaths associated thereto. It also falls within the purview of this work to criticize the definitions of the offence as provided under the various Nigerian statutes. These statutes include the penal code, the criminal code Act, et al. Under the criminal code, persons who may consummate the offence of rape are restricted to men who are above the age of twelve. In this project, an attempt has been made to expand the range of persons who may consummate the offence of rape. This is very pertinent as under the present criminal dispensation, only a man is capable of committing the offence and upon a woman, hence, no woman can commit the offence. This work sets to counteract the propriety of this position. The project also sets to fully appraise the issues of marital rape, indecent assault and non-consensual condom removal. It is proposed to proffer a concrete proposal on the definition of rap having regard to current trends in developed societies. Â
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to Study
Rape is an assault, an aberration of the right to dignity of human persons irrespective of the gender. It is a crime against humanity, and for this particular reason, both the municipal and international communities have made attempts to eradicate its occurrence via the enactment of penal laws to deter and curb its prevalence.In Nigeria, in order to achieve this, various codes have been enacted; the Penal Code for the North,[1] and the Criminal Code Act[2] for the South.
The above legislations have attempted to define the offence of rape, stipulating punishments attaching thereto. As apt and concise as the definition of the offence of rape may appear in these Codes, it is not without lacunae. This has agitated much criticisms and arguments in some quarters concerning some extant legal issues not considered by these Codes.
