Naming to fight it. Femicid, feminicid, legicid în România anului 2025
Naming to fight it. Femicide, feminicide, legicide in Romania in 2025

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the necessity and modalities of regulating the killing of women on gender grounds in Romania, as a response to the consultation launched by the Ministry of Justice regarding the possible need to amend the national criminal law framework. The paper analyzes international approaches, particularly those from Latin America, where the distinct criminalization of a homicide committed against women (femicide/feminicide), although widespread, is not directly correlated with the reduction of the high rates of the phenomenon. It highlights the major difficulties associated with creating an autonomous offense of femicide, including the semantic ambiguity of the definition, the high standard of proof required for establishing the gender motive, and the risk of infringing upon the principle of equality before the law, as pointed out by jurists in other states. The article also analyzes the idea of incorporating the general aggravating circumstance regarding the gender motive (art. 77 letter h of the Criminal Code) into the structure of the qualified homicide offense. The general conclusion is that amendments to the Criminal Code are rarely necessary and, in this matter, would be of little practical use in the absence of measures that genuinely contribute to preventing violence against women. Among the benchmarks to be considered for this purpose are the improvement of data collection, the possible creation of an efficient and well financed observatory in this field, conducting case law studies to determine whether the legal classification and penalties applied in the Romanian case law are correctly used, taking into account common elements in situations where lethal violence against women occurs (such as the woman’s decision to leave the relationship or the perpetrator’s suicidal ideation, both considered strong predictors of homicide), as well as ensuring a coherent and proactive interinstitutional response from the authorities, taking into consideration the obligations incumbent upon states arising from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

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