An Act to consolidate the Law Relating to Crimes and Criminal Offenders (Victoria)
The Crimes Act is the principal Victorian criminal legislation setting out a range of criminal offences and penalties. In relation to gender justice, the Act prohibits sexual violence and rape, stalking, sexual assault, rape, abortion (as amended by the Abortion Law Reform Act 2008) and female genital mutilation. The Act also prohibits attempts and conspiracies to commit these offenses, and sets forth applicable procedures and defenses. The Act previously contained a defense of “defensive homicide,” which was intended to, among other things, assist women who killed an abus