Statute
Today, most Western common-law countries, as well as civil-law countries, have legislated against spousal rape. They now include spousal rape (vaginal intercourse), and acts of sexual violence, such as forced anal intercourse which were traditionally dealt with under sodomy laws, in their definitions of "rape". In 2006, it was estimated that spousal rape could be prosecuted in at least 104 states (in 4 of these countries, marital rape could be prosecuted only when the spouses were judicially separated). In many countries it is not clear if spousal rape may or may not be prosecuted under ordinary rape laws. Several countries in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia made spousal rape illegal before 1970, but other countries from the Western World outlawed it much later, mostly in the 1980s and 1990s. In the US spousal rape is illegal in all 50 states; the first state to outlaw it was South Dakota in 1975, and the last North Carolina in 1993. Other developing countries have outlawed it in the 2000s.
Read more about this topic: Laws Regarding Rape
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