A Comparative Study On The Related Problems Of Rape In China And Japan

In order to adapt to the evolution of social changes,especially sexual culture,countries around the world constantly amend the legislation on rape.Japan approved the latest amendments to the criminal law in 2017,in which the relevant contents of sexual crime were significantly revised,including the change of crimes and definition,the expansion of crime subjects and gender of the crime objects,the gradual abolition of"no trial without complaint" principal about rape,the identification of the means of"violence and coercion",and the addition of new special relationship rape.The changes cover issues that have been of great concern in the crime of rape:firstly,equal protection of the sexual rights of men and women;secondly,the criminal law significance of the charging rights of legal interest subjects;thirdly,the special protection of the sexual rights of minors;and fourthly,the expansion of the committing mode of rape;The above-mentioned issues are also an unavoidable problem of rape legislation in China.Japan and China are both East Asian countries of the civil law system.Sharing almost similar cultural tradition,those two countries have both convergence and differences in legislation.Therefore,this paper analyzes the latest revision of the crime of rape in Japan in 2017,and then compares the similarities and differences between those two countries in the legislation of rape,which is of practical and referential significance for scientific and advancing legislation of rape in China.This article mainly uses the comparative research method,of which the content is divided into four parts:The first part summarizes the legislative history of rape in Japan,clarifies its legislation sources and evolution process:from the "chastity" protection in old criminal law period to the protection of "sexual freedom".Besides,the main contents of the revision of rape in the 2017 amendment to Japan's criminal law are introduced.The second part mainly analyzes the characteristics of the amendment to the criminal law of rape in Japan,including four related problems such as the change of the criminal means of rape,abolition of "no trial without complaint",the expansion of crime subjects and gender of the crime objects,and the expansion of the scope of the behavior mode identification.In the third part,the rape legislation between China and Japan is compared from three aspects:the identification of criminal means,the mode of behavior,the crime subjects and the crime objects.And a comprehensive evaluation of the rape crime legislation in China is made before its shortcomings being pointed out.Part Four puts forward the thoughts and suggestions of the author on the present situation of rape crime legislation in China from the aspects of constitutive conditions and crimes system.