A marry-your-rapist law , marry-the-rapist law or rape-marriage law is a law regarding rape that exonerates a man or boy from prosecution for rape , sexual assault , statutory rape , abduction or similar acts if the offender marries his female victim . The “marry-your-rapist” law is a legal way for such a rapist to avoid punishment and prosecution. [1] Although the terms for this phenomenon were only coined in the 2010s,the practice has existed in a number of legal systems in history, and continues to exist in some societies today in various forms.Such laws were common around the world until the 1970s. Since the late 20th century, the remaining laws of this type have been increasingly challenged and repealed in a number of countries.