Sentencing disparities in rape: a legal review / Wan Amalina Hamizah Wan Zaidi … [et al.]

Rape is a serious sexual crime and it is a growing problem in Malaysia. It degrades the human's value and demarcates women's dignity. In Malaysia, although harsh punishment have been provided for rapist, these set of sanctions are not compulsory in nature. It is the discretionary powers of the court in punishing the offenders. Thus, sentencing disparities emerged in consequences of different approaches used by courts. This study intends to review the sentencing disparities in rape offence in Malaysia as to what extend does the court departed from statutory sanction laid down in Penal Code for rape offence. Other than that, this study also analyzes the different approaches used by the states of Virginia and Minnesota in handling this issue. For this purpose, the relevant provisions in the Penal Code Act 574 are reviewed and judgments given by the courts are also taken for analyzing the factors sentencing disparities. There are loopholes in the existing laws that can be improved in order for the court to achieve consistencies in giving sentence to the rapist. A sentencing guideline is proposed as a recommendation from our team.