Costa Rica: Violence against women

Latinamerica Press: Article: "A new law increases prison sentences for women abusers.

After a seven years of congressional and high court debates, a law was finally approved in mid-April to make violence against women in Costa Rica a criminal offense.

Under the new Criminalization of Violence against Women law, physical and psychological violence against adult women within a romantic relationship will now be a felony punishable by imprisonment.

The April 12 law creates the crime of “femicide,” which will carry a prison sentence of 20 to 35 years for husbands or boyfriends who kill their partners, and between 15 to 18 years for those who force their female partners into sexual relations against their will.

Men who consistently insult, ridicule and verbally abuse their wives and girlfriends could also face prison sentences of six months to two years, and those who threaten them could receive up to a four-year sentence.

For Ana Carcedo, president of the Feminist Information and Action Center, one of the organizations that had promoted the law, “the most important impact of this law will be seen in long-term, since it will be a cultural one, when it is finally accepted that violence against women is a crime, the state commits itself to intervening, punishing this violence, and sends those who do it to jail.”

But she added "

Labels: central america, costa rica, costarica, san jose