De vervolging van verkrachtingen en aanrandingen van de eerbaarheid voor het Hof van Assisen van het Leiedepartement/de provincie West-Vlaanderen, 1811-1867

In the period 1811 to 1867, the Courts of Assizes were in principle competent to try rapes and indecent assaults. An examination of the judgments made by the Court of Assizes of the Leiedepartment/the province of West Flanders in this period shows that in this period 229 people were accused before that Court of one or both crimes, but only 143 of them were punished for one or both crimes. In addition, 27 of those 229 accused persons were punished for a completely different crime, which was usually the misdemeanor of an outrage against public decency, and 59 were acquitted. The 143 people punished were mostly men (only one woman) who were between 18 and 35 years old and worked in frequently occurring professions in both rural and more urban areas. None of them practiced an elitist profession such as a gentleman farmer, doctor, notary, lawyer, or public officer. In accordance with the legal provisions, the Court of Assizes punished more severely 14 legal fathers, one grandfather, two stepfathers, a master guest in charge of training weavers, five teachers, three wage earners who were employed by someone who exercised authority over the victim and all the persons who provided each other with mutual assistance in carrying out one or both crimes. A majority of victims (202 out of 286 or 69.8%) were girls under the age of 14 or 15 respectively. The 46 women over the age of 15 formed the second group and the 27 boys under the ages of 14 and 15 the third group. Men over the age of 15 were hardly victims. No reason was almost ever given for the acquittals. Regarding the two doctors who were acquitted, one may wonder whether this happened due to a lack of evidence or because of class justice.