THE DISPENSABILITY OF PHYSICAL CONTACT IN THE CRIME OF RAPE: A JURISPRUDENTIAL ANALYSIS OF VIRTUAL RAPE

Abstract

Sexual criminality has taken on new forms of manifestation in contemporary times, especially with the advent and expansion of information and communication technologies. In this context, criminal conducts arise that, although they do not involve direct physical contact between perpetrator and victim, represent a clear violation of sexual dignity, as occurs in the so-called virtual rape. The present study aims to critically analyze the possibility of configuring the crime of rape, provided for in article 213 of the Brazilian Penal Code, even in the absence of physical contact, in the light of the current criminal legislation, contemporary doctrine and jurisprudence of the higher courts, with special emphasis on the decisions of the Superior Court of Justice. The research adopts a qualitative, descriptive and bibliographic approach, with analysis of primary and secondary sources. Legal provisions, paradigmatic judges, scientific articles, specialized doctrines and institutional documents aimed at the protection of sexual dignity in the digital environment were examined. The results show that the legal understanding has broadened to recognize the practice of libidinous acts at a distance, when resulting from coercion, serious threat or psychological manipulation, as a typifiable conduct in the crime of rape, as long as the constraint to the victim's sexual freedom is configured. The conclusion of the study points to the adequacy of the extensive interpretation of the criminal type in the face of the new forms of sexual violence mediated by technology, reinforcing the need for a Criminal Law sensitive to social transformations and committed to the protection of autonomy and sexual integrity, even in the virtual space.