Gang rape

The Hebrew Bible documents two narratives of gang rapes: the infamous account of Sodom and the story of the Levite Concubine in Gibeah (presented as a doublet with mimicking literary structure to the former).

Gang rapes are more violent on average compared to its individual counterpart, with significantly more severe sexual and non-sexual injuries to the victim.

[16][17][clarification needed] Social factors such as civil wars, hate propaganda, and ethnic conflicts increase the rate of gang rape.

[18][19] Rape gang members often have a binding force such as the same race, or place of residence thereby forming a close-knit peer pressure group, encouraged by the behavior of their fellow criminals.

Associated factors in the crime included alcohol misuse, poverty, personal history of childhood victimization, need to prove heterosexual performance, dominance over women, and participation in gangs and related activities.

Gang rapes during civil wars and ethnic riots take added dimension of becoming a means of revenge, sending a message to the victims' community, inducing fear in the opponent, and creating a sense of solidarity among the soldiers or militants or the violent group.

[24] In the 2000s, civil war-torn countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria reported high rates of gang rapes by government soldiers, security forces, insurgents, and militias.

[30][31][32][33][34] It is alleged that there were several cases of rape and sexual assault on the October 7th attack by Hamas soldiers.

This case raised significant public anger over seemingly privileged treatment of elite gang rape criminals.

[60][61] In October 2012, two girls in Fontenay-sous-Bois on the outskirts of Paris reported experiencing daily gang rapes in the high-rise tower blocks, sometimes by scores of boys.

[62] 10 of the 14 defendants who were minors at the time of gang rape were acquitted, while the remaining 4 adults found guilty were given 0 to 12 months in prison.

[62][63] In 2014, the case of a Canadian tourist allegedly gang raped by four police officers in Paris received international attention.

[68][69] The gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a public bus, on 16 December 2012 has focused international attention on India's legal system, especially laws pertaining to the protection of women.

[71][72] The large scale protests resulted in amendments in rape laws in India by way of Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 and formation of "The Nirbhaya Fund", designed to be used for schemes by different states to ensure women's safety and security at public places, a one-stop centre for their grievances, a helpline and other measures.

[94] The prevalence of group rape has been proposed as a significant contributor to spread of sexual diseases and AIDS.

[97] In 2011, Pakistan's Supreme Court freed 5 men who committed the gang-rape because their action was on orders of the village council.

In 2018, a trans woman from Peshawar was kidnapped and raped by eleven men, who filmed the assault and shared it on social media.

The case attracted international attention because the victim was initially ordered to receive 200 lashes but the ruling was overturned by the monarch after backlash.

[118] In 2013, Forskning & Framsteg (FoF), a Swedish popular science magazine, published an article reporting that "The evidence suggests that gang rapes in Sweden is increasing - despite the decline in violent crime in general.

"[119] FoF went on to report that, "The increase, which primarily occurred in the 2000s, may have to do with "rape with multiple perpetrators" from 2004, classified as "serious crime", which means that more obscure cases fall into this category."

FoF further reports that "National Council's investigator, Klara Hradilova-Selin, said that "developments could at least partly be interpreted in terms of an actual increase.

"[119] Although there are a number of other important reasons why we are seeing more reports, such as, Klara Hradilova-Selin goes on to say, "more women dare to go the police" and an "increased alcohol consumption".

[119] On 21 January 2017, in Uppsala, Sweden, a group of Arab Facebook users allegedly gang-raped an unconscious woman for several hours.

[123][124] In March 2018, newspaper Expressen investigated gang rape court cases from the two preceding years and found that there were 43 men having been convicted.

[125] Another investigation by newspaper Aftonbladet found that of 112 men and boys convicted for gang rape since July 2012, 82 were born outside Europe.

[129] A number of gang rapes have taken place in the United Kingdom,[130] although the UK authorities had not separately collected data on gang rapes until the 2011 Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre report on localised grooming entitled "Out of Mind, Out of Sight",[131] but which only deals with adolescent victims.

In March 2014, Crime Prevention Minister Norman Baker described "ground breaking work" to identify women and girls who can get drawn into gangs.

"Girls associated with gangs can face sexual violence and we have provided £1.2m for 13 Young People's Advocates to support those at risk," he said on the launch of a report by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a think-tank established in 2002 by Iain Duncan Smith, another Cabinet minister.

Baker said the government had set up a network of more than 70 people with experience of dealing with gangs to work with 33 of the worst affected areas of the country, including 20 in London.

In one case cited by the CSJ report, a schoolgirl was abducted and sexually assaulted by nine males because she criticised a gang member.