“With the Aim of Pleasing their Lewdness…”
Sexual offences in the Celje area in the years 1927-1931
Keywords:
judicial power, sexual offences, Penal Code, Austrian Penal Code, Yugoslav Penal Code, legal practice, prosecution files, Celje District CourtAbstract
By incriminating deviations from “healthy” sexuality in the Penal Codes, judicial power protected the interests of public sexual morality and consequently began to consider such deviations as offences. Up to 1929, the provisions about physical integrity were regulated by the Austrian Penal Code; after that the unified Yugoslav Penal Code took over its role. However, only legal practice showed the real attitude of the judicature towards such crimes. The acquiescent position of the judiciary powers towards sexual offenders is manifested in the prosecution files, among them those of the Celje District Court from the years 1927 and 1931, which demonstrate how the legal provisions of the Austrian and Yugoslav Penal Code in the Celje area were applied in practice. On the basis of the surviving verdicts, the author shows the prejudices of contemporary society, the views on sexual education and sexuality per se, the main protagonists and their motives for the crimes they had perpetrated and the victims of sexual offences.
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