CEDAW/C/GC/33 choice as to the applicable family law at any stage of the relationship. State courts should review the decisions taken by all other bodies in that regard. D. Criminal law 47. Criminal laws are particularly important in ensuring that women are able to exercise their human rights, including their right to access to justice, on the basis of equality. States parties are obliged, under articles 2 and 15 of the Convention, to ensure that women have access to the protection and remedies offered through criminal law, and that they are not exposed to discrimination within the context of those mechanisms, either as victims or as perpetrators of criminal acts. Some criminal codes or acts and/or criminal procedure codes discriminate against women by: (a) Criminalizing forms of behaviour that are not criminalized or punished as harshly if they are performed by men; (b) Criminalizing forms of behaviour that can be performed only by women, such as abortion; (c) Failing to criminalize or to act with due diligence to prevent and provide redress for crimes that disproportionately or solely affect women; (d) cases. Jailing women for petty offences and/or inability to pay bail in such 48. The Committee has also highlighted the fact that women suffer from discrimination in criminal cases owing to a lack of gender -sensitive, non-custodial alternatives to detention, a failure to meet the specific needs of women in detention and an absence of gender-sensitive monitoring and independent review mechanisms. 14 The secondary victimization of women by the criminal justice system has an impact on their access to justice, owing to their heightened vulnerability to mental and physical abuse and threats during arrest, questioning and detention. 49. Women are also disproportionately criminalized owing to their situation or status, such as being involved in prostitution, being a migrant, having been accused of adultery, identity as a lesbian, bisexual or transgender woman or intersex person, having undergone an abortion or belonging to other groups that face discrimination. 50. The Committee notes that many countries have critical shortages of trained police and legal and forensic staff capable of dealing with the requirements of criminal investigations. 51. The Committee recommends that States parties: (a) Exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, punish and provide reparation for all crimes committed against women, whether by State or non-State actors; (b) Ensure that statutory limitations are in conformity with the interests of the victims; __________________ 14 18/25 Communication No. 23/2009, Abramova v. Belarus, views adopted on 25 July 2011; see also the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non -custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules), adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 65/229. 15-13094