FROM WITCHES TO MONSTERS: THE PUNISHMENT OF CRIMINAL WOMEN FROM THE GENDER PERSPECTIVE AND THE JUDGMENT OF PAULINE NYIRAMASUHUKO

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the treatment given to female criminals from a gender perspective, focusing specifically on the judgment of the International Criminal Court of Rwanda in the case of Pauline Nyiramasuhuko. In this way, it seeks to reflect on the following guiding question: historically, is the female gender used as an argument to punish, aggravate or even mitigate the penalty? Therefore, through the use of the hypothetical-deductive method, from a qualitative approach of bibliographical and jurisprudential review, the historical construction of the punishment of women will be analyzed, the disposition of their bodies by the official instances of the different forms of State, checking focus on the influence of patriarchy, then specifically on the trial of Pauline Nyiramasuhuko by the ICTR and the use of gender arguments to justify the punishment (or its impossibility), as well as the incidence of any aggravating or mitigating circumstances. Nevertheless, it will still be interesting to permeate the discussion with readings of feminist criminology, highlighting its importance for the debate, and even the consideration of rape as a crime of genocide, pari passu to Pauline's own trial by the ICTR.