“Against her will and consent”: rape and molestation in the peasant milieu and criminal prosecution for these crimes (late 19th - early 20th centuries)

The article covers the topic of sexual abuse and offenses against sexual security and freedom which is scarcely researched in the Russian historiography. The author focuses on sexual abuse of women in rural areas of the Russian Empire in late 19th - early 20th centuries. The article refers to materials of court trials and police data. The main attention is paid to such offenses as rape of women and sexual abuse of female minors committed in the peasant milieu. The rural population’s attitudes to these offenses are identified and the practice of criminal prosecution for these crimes is revealed. The contrastive analysis of the rural punishment traditions and criminal prosecution practices shows that the police and the court were much stricter and more resolute about investigating and punishing the offenses. Common regulatory norms allowed for punishment as mob law for an offender and the conciliation of parties in case of material compensation from an abuser. However, in the early 20th century the reconciliation practices were wasting away in Russia with the increase of legal culture in the country and the growth of rural women’s self-respect.