Physical violence against a minor child is one of the types of rough and cruel treatment, intentional infliction of bodily harm, beatings, injuries, mutilations, bruises, and bruises on an adult child. The highest percentage of cruelty occurs in dysfunctional families, where parents use alcohol, drugs, have mental illness, are depressed or lead an antisocial lifestyle. Sometimes the help of medical professionals may be needed to cope with the consequences of such upbringing. Very often in a family, parents use various methods of punishment against a child, including physical ones, which can be easily detected due to external manifestations.
Who, where and when is responsible for beating a minor?
The responsibility for the health and behavior of the child will always rest with his parents or guardians . This applies to cases when the child is at home, on the street, in a store and other similar places.
Educational institutions relieve some of this responsibility from parents. While the child is in a kindergarten or school institution, educators, teachers and the administration of the institution will be responsible for him.
If a child attends an excursion outside of school hours , Order No. 1124 of 2014, approved by the Minister of Education, comes into force. The description clearly states that each excursion group must have a leader and deputies, who are responsible for the children.
In the case of beating a minor, the person who caused physical harm will suffer civil, administrative and even criminal punishment . This is required by the Child Protection Law.
The main international document protecting the rights of the child is the UN Convention on the Rights of Minors. In the Ukrainian state, this burden falls on the Constitution, Family and Civil Codes, as well as the Law preventing domestic violence.
Reasons and motives: why do parents beat their children?
The most common thing you hear from such parents is: “I was raised this way as a child.” No matter how paradoxical it may sound, for many it is already a kind of family tradition to pass on such methods of raising a child by inheritance.
In fact, the reason is different: the mother or father is simply not competent enough in upbringing, they do not have the ability to normally come to an agreement with the child and solve the problem, and the use of force is something where a lot of intelligence is not needed - for that the child will immediately understand and do more will not be. But, in this case, the parent does not think about why it won’t happen (if so) - the child will not understand his offense, but will simply be afraid. And in this case we are not talking about education at all.
The use of physical violence against children of primary preschool and school age occurs much more often than against older children. This is due to the fact that at this age the child is unlikely to complain to any of the strangers and parents, naturally, nothing will happen for this. Bruises and abrasions can easily be attributed to the fact that the child fell himself, got into a fight, was injured while playing on the street, and so on.
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At school age, a child often already realizes that he has someone to ask for protection. In addition, adults can also pay attention to the presence of physical injuries: teachers, parents of other children, and classmates themselves can tell their parents or teachers about it.
Who is responsible for a fight at school or kindergarten?
When a student appears on the territory of an educational school, the school management, as well as the classroom teacher, take responsibility for the child. During lessons, the teacher of the current subject is responsible.
The relevant Law “On Education” obliges teachers to protect their students from violence, mainly psychological.
If there is a fight between students at school, the direct blame will lie solely with the quarreling children and their parents . A teacher can only be accused of inaction if he saw the conflict and did not take any action. Simply put, the teacher must prevent a possible fight between his students. If the conflict began in front of the teacher, this is a poor performance of his duties, entailing disciplinary action .
All school conflicts are within the competence of the deputy director for educational work. It is this person who determines all the circumstances of the emergency and calls the parents for further proceedings.
What is the punishment for beating a child by a minor?
Regardless of where the fight between two children occurred, the offender and his parents will bear responsibility. You need to understand the amount of responsibility that falls on the child who started the fight.
The Criminal Code of Ukraine provides for liability for causing light, medium and severe injuries, as well as torture and beatings.
According to the law, teenagers 14 years of age will be held accountable before the law for causing moderate and severe bodily harm, in accordance with Part 2 of Art. 22 of the Criminal Code. And only from the age of 16 for causing harm in the form of minor injuries.
Battering a child
The easiest situation is beatings, which, according to Article 116 of the Criminal Code, are qualified as “violent actions that caused physical pain, but did not have consequences even in the form of slight harm to health.”
Now let’s decipher what all this has to do with parents and their children. The interpretation of the concept of “physical pain that has no consequences for health” can be quite broad.
Since it is not indicated how severe the pain can be, a slap on the bottom or an attempt to restrain a child by pulling his arm can, if desired, be classified as beating.
In practice, in order to open a case, it is necessary for the child to report such “beatings” inflicted by his parents. To do this, he can contact either the local police officer or by telephone to the local guardianship authorities. Relatives and neighbors can give a similar signal.
In this regard, parents are afraid that the child, offended by the spanking, may report to the police. And children who like to manipulate their parents may claim beating, even if there was no spanking.
When the question arises about a mother or father beating their child, the investigating authorities, as a rule, require the presentation of bruises, scratches or other physical signs of violence.
The problem is that most children have bruises or abrasions as a result of their physical activity, and not at all from violent actions. And it is not possible to identify exactly how they appeared. In case of doubt, the police and guardianship take the side of the child.
For the first case of beating their child, a parent will be held administratively liable under Article 6.1.1. This is fraught with a fine of 5 to 30 thousand rubles, arrest for 10–15 days, or community service for 120 hours. For the second case, criminal punishment is up to 2 years in prison. In addition, guardianship may consider depriving parental rights.
What threatens a minor from 11 to 14 years of age?
The Civil Code of Ukraine states that children of this age have incomplete legal capacity and are not responsible for harm caused to another minor.
If a child who is 11 years old, but has not yet reached the age of criminal responsibility, commits prohibited actions that constitute a crime, educational methods can be applied to him with the help of a judicial authority.
Such methods are:
- limiting options for spending free time;
- transfer to the supervision of responsible adults;
- placement of a child in a special educational institution.
If a child inflicts serious injuries on his peer before reaching the age of 14, only the parents can be held administratively liable in accordance with Art. 184 KUoAP.
The decision regarding parents is made solely by the court.
What is the punishment for battery between 14 and 16 years old?
For the beating of a minor by a minor from 14 to 16 years of age, criminal liability is provided only for causing moderate and severe bodily harm. Liability is provided for in Articles 121 and 122 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. We will discuss the punishment itself in the next section, so as not to repeat it.
If a child inflicts minor bodily injuries, there is no criminal liability.
However, according to Art. 184 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, if minors have not reached the age at which criminal liability begins, their parents will be responsible for their actions. Namely, the imposition of a fine from 100 to 300 NMDG . In case of malicious failure to fulfill their duties, parents and persons who replace them will face criminal punishment - Art. 166 of the Criminal Code, which provides for restriction or imprisonment for a term of 2 to 5 years.
Beating a minor: types of crime
As mentioned above, beating a minor can be carried out by both adults and minors. The options for prosecution will vary greatly in this case.
Thus, if a minor is beaten by adults, including parents, they will be subject to full liability measures provided for in one of the articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Articles 111 to 116), depending on the nature of the harm caused, and also on how serious the psychological impact is.
If the beating was committed by a person who is not the parent of the minor or his guardian or other legal representative, then only the provisions of the articles of the Criminal Code will be applied to him.
In the case when we are talking about a beating carried out by one of the parents, then, in addition to the provisions of the relevant article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the court will also have the right to use the provisions of the Family Code of the Russian Federation , aimed at ensuring the safety of the life and health of the victim child, namely :
- restrict a parent’s rights in relation to the injured child for up to six months;
- deprive a parent of parental rights in relation to the injured child (if it is established that moderate or grave harm has been caused to health).
If we are talking about the complete beating of a child by minors, then bringing them to criminal responsibility will be possible only from the age of sixteen, as provided for by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.
In the event that the age of prosecution has not yet arrived, then the materials prepared by law enforcement officers on the incident will be transferred to the commission on juvenile affairs for a special trial and subsequent registration of the perpetrators with a special register to monitor their behavior.
If the beating was carried out by a group of people, prosecution will also not be carried out for persons who were part of such a group if they have not reached the age of sixteen. For those minors who have reached this age threshold, prosecution will occur in accordance with the provisions of the relevant parts of the current articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Full responsibility from 16 years old
This age mark makes the child capable of taking full responsibility for his criminal actions. A child who commits an offense will face punishment in accordance with the Criminal Code and Code of Administrative Offences:
- Infliction of slight bodily harm , Art. 125 of the Criminal Code. Punishable by a fine of up to 50 minimum wages, or community service for up to 200 hours, or correctional labor for up to 1 year. If the damage caused has consequences for the victim such as health problems or minor loss of ability to work, the punishment will increase. The violator faces 50–100 tax-free incomes, or community service for 150–240 hours, or correctional labor for up to one year, or arrest for up to six months, or restriction of freedom for up to two years.
- Infliction of moderate bodily harm , Art. 122 of the Criminal Code. Punishable by correctional labor for up to 2 years or restriction/imprisonment for up to 3 years. If the attack was committed to intimidate the victim or his family, or because of racial, religious or national discrimination, the punishment will be imprisonment for 3-5 years.
- Causing grievous bodily harm , Art. 121 of the Criminal Code - imprisonment for a term of 5–8 years. If the actions led to special suffering or were committed by several persons, the term can be increased to 7–10 years.
What should parents of a teenager who is being beaten at school do?
First, you need to find out from the child all the nuances and details of the events that led to the beating. The reaction of teachers is also extremely important, because they must structure the educational process in such a way that classmates and other children do not conflict with each other.
- The first step is to submit an application to the director of the educational institution . This step also includes contacting the parent committee. The school administration must take measures to combat such offenses; for this purpose, a child psychologist is present in every school.
- The guardianship and trusteeship authorities also need to be notified . They deal with many issues, including monitoring the observance of the rights and interests of minor citizens.
- A report of beating submitted to the district education department should lead to the creation of a special commission that will not only conduct an investigation together with school representatives, but also check the teacher’s working methods. At the end of the process, the commission must provide a documented conclusion.
If a minor has been subjected to intentional violence , it is necessary to write a statement to law enforcement agencies. The National Police will establish all the circumstances of the crime and bring the culprit to justice in accordance with the law.
Procedure for contacting the police
The procedure for bringing the perpetrator to justice depends on the type of offense. Battery and causing minor harm are crimes of private prosecution. To punish the aggressor, the victim or his legal representative must submit an application to the internal affairs authorities.
Torture and causing grievous bodily harm are crimes of public prosecution. To initiate a criminal case, it is not necessary to have a statement. Another reason is sufficient: an appeal from the guardianship and trusteeship authorities, identification by the district police of signs of violations, etc.
In case of beating of a minor, you can go to the police station or to court. The first way is optimal if the name of the person who caused bodily harm to the child is unknown. The document submitted to the internal affairs authorities must contain a detailed description of the situation, passport data and the applicant’s registered address.
A claim for battery filed in court must contain the following:
name of the judicial authority; passport details of the victim and suspect; description of what happened in detail; Full name of witnesses; request to accept materials for production; date, signature.
Upon receipt of the application, the police conduct a preliminary check. After 10 days, they are obliged to initiate a criminal case or give a justified refusal. You can file a complaint against the latter with the Prosecutor's Office. The statute of limitations for battery causing minor harm is two years.
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Dmitry Leonov
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