Agboli Jacob Mensah
Narcotics Control Commission, Accra, Ghana.
Sex Offending. 2023 Dec 5;18:e12319. doi: 10.5964/sotrap.12319. eCollection 2023 Dec.
Rape is a criminal offence in all countries of the world. However, what constitutes rape in the legal sense differs from country to country, with many common law countries sharing some similarities in their definition of rape. This paper conducts a critical review of the crime of rape in Ghana by discussing what constitutes rape under Ghanaian law, its key elements which a prosecution has to prove to succeed on a charge of rape, and the challenges of adjudicating rape cases in Ghana, paying particular attention to the victim. Furthermore, the manuscript offers some useful recommendations on improving current practice. Among the challenges identified as militating against the successful prosecution of rape cases in Ghana are the high poverty level resulting in the lack of money to pay for the costs of forensic medical examination by the victim, stigmatisation and ridicule of rape victims, lack of social and psychological support for the victims of rape, the unduly long period adjudication of rape cases take, the gender-specific definition of rape, and the general inadequate or lack of reformative services for rape prisoners. The paper recommends that the state of Ghana should take steps to tackle these challenges in order to promote justice for rape victims, while effectively dealing with the perpetrators of such crimes. These steps could include, the State covering the costs of forensic medical examination for rape victims through the National Health Insurance Scheme, intensifying public education on rape and its consequences, especially on the victim, and amending the definition of rape to make it gender-neutral instead of gender-specific. This paper will be useful to legal, psychological, and sociological researchers in Ghana and the world over.
强奸在世界各国均属刑事犯罪。然而，法律意义上的强奸构成要件因国家而异，许多普通法国家在强奸的定义上有一些相似之处。本文通过讨论加纳法律规定的强奸构成要件、检方为成功指控强奸罪必须证明的关键要素以及加纳审理强奸案件所面临的挑战，对加纳的强奸罪进行了批判性审视，特别关注了受害者。此外，本文还就改进当前做法提出了一些有益建议。在加纳，被认定不利于成功起诉强奸案件的挑战包括：贫困程度高导致受害者无力支付法医检查费用；强奸受害者遭受污名化和嘲笑；强奸受害者缺乏社会和心理支持；强奸案件的判决时间过长；强奸的性别特定定义；以及对强奸罪犯普遍缺乏或根本没有改造服务。本文建议加纳政府应采取措施应对这些挑战，以促进为强奸受害者伸张正义，同时有效惩治此类犯罪的实施者。这些措施可包括：国家通过国家医疗保险计划支付强奸受害者的法医检查费用；加强关于强奸及其后果的公众教育，特别是针对受害者的教育；修订强奸的定义，使其不针对特定性别，而是性别中立。本文将对加纳乃至全世界的法律、心理学和社会学研究人员有所帮助。
