Relooking at Statutory Rape Laws in Malaysia: Psychosocial Characteristics of Sexual Relations among Underage and Adult-Child Partners, Sexual Motives and Perception of the Criminal Justice Personnel

Project Information

LAWS-TEENS-SEX

Grant agreement ID: 101059558

DOI

10.3030/101059558

Project terminated on 31 July 2024

EC signature date 8 July 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2024

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 156 778,56

Coordinated by

UNIVERSIDADE DE TRAS-OS-MONTES E ALTO DOURO
Portugal

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LAWS-TEENS-SEX (Relooking at Statutory Rape Laws in Malaysia: Psychosocial Characteristics of Sexual Relations among Underage and Adult-Child Partners, Sexual Motives and Perception of the Criminal Justice Personnel)

Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Context:

Statutory rape laws are designed to protect children from the manipulation of adults to engage in sexual intercourse . According to the laws, engaging in sexual intercourse with children below the ages set by the law (the age of consent) are considered as rape, whether or not the child is consenting. In Malaysia, the age of consent is 16 years old. While considered necessary, statutory rape laws are not exempted from controversies. In Malaysia, statutory rape laws are regularly enforced which signs Malaysia’s commitment to uphold and ensure regular implementation of children’s protection from manipulative or coerced sexual relations. However, these enforcements are not only against adults, but also children themselves who are male. Malaysia’s Penal Code, Section 375 specifies that only females are recognized as a gender that can be victimized with rape. The implication from this is significant. Mainly, when males are thought to be the only ones who can rape (adults and children alike), this leads to the criminalization of sexual relations between two children who are in the same age level (close-in-age partners) as male children are also thought to be capable of rape. This harms their developmental trajectories.

Overarching objective:

This research aims to understand the presupposed assumption of deviance in sexual behavior of male adolescents with their peers who happen to be underage. This requires data from different angles of the phenomenon. The results of this project would inform policies related to the criminalization of sexual behavior of male adolescents with their underage peers.

Objectives:

1) To explore the perception of the criminal justice system personnel (i.e. prosecutors, police officers and probation officers) towards the implementation of statutory rape laws on adolescents in Malaysia.
2) To investigate the psychosocial characteristics (sexual and antisocial dimensions) of sexual relations involving two close-in-age children in comparison with sexual relations involving adults and children.
3) To explore the psychosocial-cultural motivations behind the pursuance of sexual relationships among Asian adolescents.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

For the first objective, the researcher has recruited 22 participants comprising of police and probation officers who had experience in handling statutory rape cases involving male adolescents in Malaysia. The interview utilized the concept of readiness written by a scholar in the area of restorative justice which included three dimensions of readiness. The data were analyzed qualitatively. The results pointed to the insights offered by the practitioners on the reality of sexual behavior of male adolescents with their underage peers. The interview findings also showed some aspects of the profession that impacted service delivery when it comes to handling statutory rape cases among male adolescents.

For the second objective, the researcher has recruited 112 participants comprising male adolescent and adult offenders of statutory rape in various juvenile detention centers and prisons in Malaysia during the data collection process. Three predictors were involved: perceived power, perceived romance, and aggression. Two models of hypotheses were formulated. The first model compared the predictors between male adolescents and male adults who had sex with an underage females; hence, the outcome was the age status of the perpetrators. The second models compared the same predictors between male adolescents who had sex with underage partners and male adolescents who had not. The data were analyzed quantitatively and two outputs have been produced based on the data. The models were tested using logistic regression tests. The first model was supported by the analysis, where male adult perpetrators were shown to have perceived a higher level of power, and lower levels of perceived romance and aggression. For the second model, the model was not supported by the analysis.

For the third objective, the researcher has recruited 19 participants comprising of 19 male adolescents detained in different juvenile detention centers during the data collection process. The interview utilized the incentive theory of sexual motivation that describes what makes a sexual act as deviant. The data were analyzed qualitatively. The analysis has shown that for the large part, the sexual behavior of male adolescents with their underage peers did not seem to be deviant, as informed by the theory.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

This research is among the first that tackled the deviant element of sexual behavior of male adolescents with their underage peers, warranting the enforcement of statutory rape laws. This has an important implication in the criminal justice landscape, specifically in the enforcement of statutory rape laws and how the enforcement should recognize the nuances of sexual behaviors of male adolescents which should also be informed by developmental perspectives.

Scientific impacts:

While this research was in the context of Malaysia, the idea behind the project and the results should be relevant to the global context provided that many countries in the world still do not discriminate between the age statuses of the perpetrators of statutory rape, including in Europe. Furthermore, future research should also include data from non-clinical settings (i.e. adolescents in the public setting) as the current project only recruited adolescents from the juvenile institutions.