Author(s): Abdullah Ahmed Al-Khseilat, Moayad Hosni Al-Khawaldah
The protection of the female or male is the duty of any country in the world which matter starts by protecting the body against sexual assault which has been criminalized by the legislator in the Jordanian Penal Code through explicit provisions providing for criminalizing a number of crimes, e.g. the crime of rape when the victim is a female only or the crime of molestation when the victim is being (a male or female) or of inappropriate flirtation in a public place or inappropriate flirtation in a private place. In fact, and as for the verbal or gestural sexual harassment, then the same was not approached by the Jordanian Penal Code. Yet, would the traditional provisions be sufficient to criminalize the same or that explicit legal provisions should be laid down? In addition, what is the criterion for the existence or non-existence of the sexual harassment for which this crime that has been spreading largely in the Jordanian community should be faced since the sexual harassment is mostly represented by the sexual expressions that encroach on the dignity of the female or the male but the victim is mostly a female who stands to be half of the community while this crime causes her to sustain a psychological and physical damage. Actually, we arrived at a number of conclusions and recommendations, the conclusions that have not been provided for the legislator in the Jordanian Penal Code concerning the crime of the sexual harassment explicitly while the provisions of criminalization may not stand to be a reference. In fact, the crime of the sexual harassment is broader than the legal provisions set in the Jordanian Penal Code, e.g. simple catcalls, inappropriate comments and minor incidents in which the criteria is the person him/herself and the psychological impact of the same in him/her. As for the recommendations, then I hope that the Jordanian legislator shall explicitly provide for the crime of sexual harassment in the Jordanian Penal Code while the proposed wording shall be as follows by adding article 306 et. "the sexual harassment A- Every person who harms others at a public or a private place through sexual or pornographic gestures or suggestions, and whether by overtone, statement or act directly or indirectly by using the technological means shall be punished by sentencing jail for a term that shall not be less than six months and not more than one year or by the payment of a fine that shall not be less than five hundred Dinars and not more than one thousand Dinars. B- The penalty of sentencing to jail for a term of not less than one year and not more than three years or the payment of a fine that shall not be less than one thousand Dinars and not more than three thousand Dinars shall be imposed if the crime shall be repeated within one year as from the issuance of a convection ruling in the first crime.