THE LEGAL HURDLES IN DETERRENCE OF RAPE CRIMES IN TANZANIA
Tanzania faces many legal, cultural and societal barriers that make rape prevention challenging. Even though Tanzania has laws that aim to deter crime by imposing severe penalties a minimum of thirty years and a maximum of life in prison as well as fines, reparations, and corporal punishment, the number of rape events in the country continues to rise. Legal obstacles to deterring rape crimes in Tanzania affect the laws and organizations that oversee the prosecution of rape cases. The article shows that although the law defines the crime and lays out severe penalties, rape crimes are nevertheless common. And the author came to the conclusion that the absence of laws that forbid rape offenses, the absence of a time restriction, the availability of bail in rape cases, the complexity of the legal process, and the impact on statutory rape make the law in terms of punishment ineffective in deterring rape offenses. The punishment of rape cases in deterring rape crime was also impacted by legal effects such as noncompliance with the four-hour rule, out-of-court negotiations, irreversible mistakes and contradictions of the ingredients of rape as defined by statute and court practice, corruption, and failure to report rape cases.
Key Terms: Crime, Rape, Deterrence and Legal Hurdles
