The concept of seduction of a minor
This definition is not legal. It is quite vague and characterizes many situations, which include:
- rape of a child under 14 years of age;
- sexual violence against a person under 16 years of age;
- committing any other acts of a sexual nature using threats or physical coercion;
- consensual sexual intercourse or any other sexual relationship between an adult and a person under 16 years of age.
All these crimes deserve varying degrees of punishment and are quite clearly distinguished from each other, but are united under the general concept of “corruption of a minor.” Moreover, the term itself, although common among ordinary people, is still incorrect.
The fact is that adulthood in the Russian Federation means reaching 18 years of age. However, from the age of 16, the age of sexual consent begins, at which the state lifts all prohibitions on the sexual life of a minor. Under criminal law, only violent sexual acts against a 16-17 year old are punishable.
Another important circumstance is that the legislator clearly distinguishes between the molestation of minors, that is, those under 14 years of age. Particularly severe sentences are imposed for such acts.
Child molestation: punishment for child molestation
Violation of the sexual integrity of a child is a serious crime, the commission of which is punishable by up to imprisonment. The article for corruption of minors differentiates punishments based on an assessment of the circumstances and consequences of the crime.
Current legislation establishes a clear “age of consent” - 16 years, before which any actions on the part of adults that can be assessed as sexually oriented, or sexual contact with a person who has not reached puberty, are prohibited.
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The absence of violent actions is not regarded as a mitigating factor.
Given that children cannot fully understand the consequences of their actions, corruption of a minor is a crime regardless of whether it was committed with consent or against his will.
Russian laws, while protecting the interests of minors, prohibit sexual contact with a boy or girl who is under 16 years of age, as well as any other actions that may be regarded as harassment or immoral acts.
Corruption of minors by adults is punished especially severely if it occurs in relation to children of primary or secondary school age. This applies not only to sexual contacts, but also to the seduction of minors - formally voluntary actions, the content of which the child cannot fully understand due to emotional immaturity.
Since the commission of immoral acts against children under the age of majority is difficult to classify, the legislation provides additional conditions that allow the corruption of minors to be regarded as a crime. These include the following.
- Seduction occurs by an adult citizen in relation to a person who is under 16 years of age.
- Seduction occurs deliberately.
- The criminal is aware that the person being seduced is under 16 years of age.
- Sexual contact between an adult and a minor is consensual (otherwise the crime should be considered rape).
- Seduction is considered committed, regardless of whether the offender achieved the result he expected.
Sexual acts against the sexual integrity of children can be of two types.
- Physical molestation of minors - the molester has physical contact with the victim, performing sexual acts with his own body or with the body of the child.
- Intellectual seduction - an adult shows a minor pornographic video or photographs, initiates conversations on obscene topics.
In the legislation, there are two articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which determine the punishment for sexual intercourse or seduction of persons under the age of majority. These include Article 134 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (sexual intercourse with a minor) and Art.
135 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (article for seduction of minors).
In accordance with them, various types of punishment are provided: imprisonment in a general regime colony, a ban on a profession, correctional or community service.
Based on the circumstances of sexual contact or depraved acts against persons under the age of majority, measures that do not include imprisonment may be applied to the offender.
In particular, if there were voluntary relationships between persons with a slight difference in age (no more than 4 years), then the adult citizen is not subject to punishment in the form of serving a sentence in a correctional colony.
A mitigating measure is also used if a person who has had sexual intercourse with a minor subsequently enters into an official marriage with him. In such cases, the accused is exempt from criminal prosecution, but only on the condition that he has not previously been found to have committed indecent acts against persons under the age of majority.
Composition of Article 134 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
The provisions of Article 134 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provide for the following types of punishment for sexual intercourse with minors.
- Sexual contact between a citizen over 18 years of age and a person under 16 years of age—deprivation (restriction) of liberty for up to 4 years, or correctional labor for up to 480 hours.
- Homosexual or lesbian contact with a minor - correctional labor for up to 5 years or imprisonment for up to 6 years.
- Sexual contact with a person aged 12 to 14 years (of the other or the same sex) - imprisonment from 3 to 10 years.
- The above actions in relation to a group of children - imprisonment from 6 to 15 years.
- The above-mentioned actions committed by a group of persons - imprisonment from 12 to 20 years.
The law prohibits persons released from prison under Article 134 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation from engaging in professional activities related to teaching children (teachers, coaches, tutors, etc.) for a period of up to 10 or 15 years.
In cases where there was sexual contact between a person over 18 years of age and a person under 12 years of age, the law regards such actions as rape of a minor, which falls under clause 4 of Article 131 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The punishment for such a crime is imprisonment for a term of 15 to 20 years.
Punishment under Article 135 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
Responsibility for seducing persons under 16 years of age is determined by the court, taking into account the nature and circumstances of the crime.
A vague definition of the severity of such an act significantly complicates the court’s task of qualifying the type of punishment for the molester.
As a rule, when considering a case, the judge takes into account not only the actions of the seducer themselves, but also the consequences that they had for the psychological state of the child.
According to Article 135 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, liability for seduction can be imposed in the form of imprisonment or restriction of freedom for up to 3 years or community service for up to 440 hours. However, if the age of the molester's victim did not exceed 14 years, seduction is punishable only by imprisonment for a term of 3 to 8 years.
Corruption of two or more minors is punishable even more severely. For such a crime, imprisonment ranges from 5 to 12 years.
Corruption of a child by a group of persons is punishable by imprisonment in a correctional colony for a term of 7 to 15 years. If the offender has previously been prosecuted for similar acts, he faces a sentence of 10 to 15 years.
As in the cases provided for in Article 134 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, after serving the sentence, the molester is deprived of the right to conduct professional activities that allow contact with children for a period of 10 to 15 years.
Liability for non-violent sexual offenses against minors
Since 2009, in the latest edition of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, liability for such crimes has been tightened. This need was caused by the fact that until 2009 Russian legislation did not fully comply with the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as by the wide resonance in the federal media of cases of sexual crimes against children.
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The tightening of criminal liability under Articles 134 and 135 of the Criminal Code has placed the punishment for seducing a minor on a par with premeditated murder and infliction of grievous bodily harm.
To eliminate controversial situations when a teenager, due to early puberty, pretends to be an adult, in 2013 a rule was introduced into the legislation allowing for the decriminalization of sexual contact with a minor who has reached puberty, provided that the partner did not know about it. that the girl or boy is under 16 years of age. However, such a rule cannot apply to sexual acts with persons under 14 years of age.
Controversial situations surrounding the concept of “depraved acts”
Uncertainty surrounding the legal definition of what can be considered lewd acts often leads to controversial situations.
Example No. 1. An 11-year-old girl complained to her parents that a male gymnastics coach supported her by the hips as a safety net while performing an exercise on a gymnastics apparatus. Can such actions by a coach be classified as having sexual overtones?
If a child feels discomfort due to the touch of a stranger, this gives grounds to argue that it is better for the girl to choose another coach.
At the same time, the coach can refute the accusations, citing the need to ensure safety and the complexity of the exercise.
Without further evidence that the man receives sexual satisfaction from such activities, filing a complaint with the police or prosecutor's office is unlikely to be successful.
Example No. 2. During class, the teacher showed 8th grade students an excerpt from a feature film, where actors imitated sexual intercourse.
Can such actions of a teacher be qualified as intellectual seduction?
There is clearly an indecent connotation here, since the teacher has probably exceeded his authority by showing children a video that is not appropriate for their age.
To check whether a film meets its age category, you should find out what kind of distribution certificate it received in Russia. If the film was not released in Russia, you need to find out what age category it received in the country of release: the USA or one of the EU countries.
If the category of a film allows its viewing only by persons over 16 or 18 years of age, the teacher has committed a legal act incompatible with the profession of a teacher. Whether these actions were intentional or accidental is up to the school director or the head of the education department to determine.
Attention! Due to changes in legislation, the legal information in this article may have lost its relevance!
Source: https://ImeetePravo.com/otvetstvennost/sovrashhenie-maloletnih-statya.html
Reasons for punishment for these actions
Criminal cases related to sex, which involve people who seem to love each other: an adult and, most often, a girl 14–17 years old, always cause a public outcry. Some do not see anything wrong with intimate relationships if they occur between a stable couple. Others raise questions about the morality of such behavior, characterizing it as molestation in any case.
However, the legislator establishes liability for the seduction of minors not because of the protection of moral standards, but from a medical point of view. Doctors believe that before the age of 16, a young person, both a boy and a girl, is not fully ready for sexual intimacy, both due to their physiological characteristics and for psychological reasons. That is why the country sets the age of sexual consent, and its violation is perceived as corruption of minors.
Characteristics of the crime
Corruption of minors in the Criminal Code is regulated by two articles: 134 and 135. One of them provides sanctions for committing indecent acts towards a minor without sexual contact, the second punishes for sexual contact with a minor, but exclusively on a voluntary basis. If there was coercion or violence, then the actions of the offender will be qualified under another article, for example, under 131 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, rape.
An article for pedophilia may not be charged if there is a small age difference between the lawbreaker and the victim. For example, if a 15-year-old girl meets an 18-year-old guy and they have sexual contact, then these actions will not be classified as pedophilia. To establish the fact of pedophilia, the age difference is very important.
The article for corruption of minors will not be charged if, after sexual intercourse, the offender marries his victim. This applies only to cases where the victim has reached the age of 14; before this, the actions of the offender are criminally punishable.
The article on pedophilia has two degrees of severity:
- for corruption of minors under 16 years of age;
- for corruption of minors under 12 years of age.
The first category of crimes is considered less serious and does not imply deprivation of liberty; in some cases, as mentioned above, the offender can avoid criminal liability altogether. Corruption of children under 12 years of age is considered a particularly serious crime and is subject to the strictest sanctions.
Due to their development, young children are not able to understand what is happening to them and give consent to any actions of a sexual nature. If the child himself agrees and even assists the offender in every possible way, this will still be considered pedophilia.
Conditions for initiating a criminal case under Articles 134 and 135. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
Criminal liability does not arise in every case of sexual intercourse with a teenager. These cases need to be listed.
- A criminal case for molestation of minors is initiated in any case when an adult has contact with a minor.
- An allegation of rape of a teenager also inevitably leads to a police investigation, even if the act was committed by a minor. At the same time, the prosecution also charges the perpetrator with Article 131 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (on rape).
- In case of voluntary sexual intercourse, in order to find the suspect guilty, it is necessary to prove that he was aware of the age of the victim, otherwise the crime cannot be interpreted as corruption of minors.
In legal practice, it is this point that causes the most controversy, since it is often not possible to prove it. However, the defense of the accused will not be able to cling to this point if the court establishes that the appearance of the victim excludes doubts that he is under 16.
Another difficulty lies in establishing the fact of seduction of minors during voluntary sex, which was engaged in by an adult and a person aged 16 to 18 years old who has mental disabilities that do not allow him to be responsible for his actions. In this case, it is possible to initiate a criminal case, and the main nuance during the proceedings will be to establish, through various examinations, whether the minor was aware of his actions when he agreed to intimate intimacy.
The grounds for initiating a criminal case may be:
- statement from the victim or victim;
- appeal to investigative authorities by the legal representatives of the teenager, his parents, adoptive parents or guardianship authorities;
- If a minor is pregnant, the treating gynecologist is obliged to contact the police, even if the girl is against criminal prosecution of her sexual partner.
Punishment periods established by law
Articles of Russian laws establish that pedophilia is punishable by a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. If it is proven in court that sexual intercourse occurred by mutual consent, then the punishment is significantly softened and provides for only up to 4 years in prison or compulsory labor for the period corresponding to the sentence. However, if the persons caught having sex are of the same sex, the perpetrator may be sentenced to up to 5 years in prison.
Criminal punishment for other depraved acts provides for up to 3 years in prison. The actual prison sentence for seducing minors can be replaced by 5 years of forced labor or 440 hours of community service.
Criminal articles provide for several nuances, in the presence of which the terms for corruption of minors may be increased:
- for any voluntary sexual acts with a child under 14 years of age, the maximum sanctions can be up to 8 years, as this is considered as corruption of minors;
- sexual intercourse with two or more teenagers is punishable by a minimum of 8 years in prison;
- if a crime is committed by several persons, then under any circumstances they will face up to 15 years in prison;
- A pedophile convicted for the second time under articles of corruption of minors, if his guilt is proven, will serve a minimum of 10 years.
In general, the law provides for significantly different sentences depending on the circumstances of the crime.
