Gender-based harms, stereotypes and bias crimes: what’s law got to do with it?

• In Event: Forging criminalisation of gender-based violence

Abstract

Research on biases, sexist prejudices and gender stereotypes has revealed that gender equality and equity are difficult to ensure in the actual administration of criminal justice. According to Herzog and Oreg’s chivarly theory, for example, the treatment of women depends on personal representations and stereotypes held by those judging them in relation to what a women should be like and (traditional or non-traditional) type of the female offender. Similarly to gender-based hate crime, the victims of which are often targeted owing to their perceived deviation from the traditional gender norms, authorities may punish or treat unfavourably those appearing before them who “upset” their gender beliefs. Biases, prejudices and discriminatory sentiment in the justice system, however, reflect wider juridical and societal attitudes. They also penetrate the law-making sphere, where they can impede the passing of legislation aimed at ameliorating the situation and standing of victims of gender-based violence. Employing three examples of legislative steps addressing gender-based and bias crime through criminal law in Slovenia and at EU level and, specifically, of the context and background against which such (successful and unsuccessful) legislative initiatives have played out, we examine what these cases and processes of criminalisation can teach us about the current challenges to substantive gender equality and protection of victims against gender-based (hate) crime. We then conclude with a short excursion into the field of research ethics to source some possible lessons that can be drawn from the ethics assessment of AI development, use or deployment to improve the law and legislation on gender-based violence and bias crimes.

Author

• Nina Peršak, 1. Institute for Criminal-Law Ethics and Criminology, Ljubljana; 2. University of Ljubljana