Fursa V. Criminal liability for corruption of minors

In the dissertation the analysis of theoretical provisions of criminal law science and practice of application of norms on criminal liability for sexual assaults on minors is carried out. The scientific and practical task of improving the criminal law norm, which establishes the responsibility for the abuse of minors, has been solved. Further development of existing provisions of criminal law and legislation has been carried out. In particular, it is proposed to establish criminal liability for committing exhibitionist acts, which are a separate way of committing contactless lewd acts. It is proved that a peculiar way of corrupting minors is the use of pornographic objects during the offense, while the pornographic objects themselves are the means of committing lewd acts. It is concluded the necessity of legislative provisions on exemption from criminal liability for molestation of minors in the case, when the age difference between the participants in the described actions does not exceed 4 years. It is proposed to expand the list of coercive measures of an educational nature by paragraph «6) passing a relevant educational correctional program or appropriate course for minors» to release from criminal liability minors who have committed lewd acts. The provisions on the division of lewd acts into contact lewd acts and contactless lewd acts and on the need to combine the rules establishing criminal liability for similar criminal offenses that infringe on sexual freedom or sexual integrity have been improved. Provisions on the voluntary nature of lewd acts have been developed. Proposals on the need for compulsory sex education at primary and secondary school level were supported. It is proposed to supplement the aggravated features «repetition of crime» and «group commission of crime». The historical and legal origins of the establishment of criminal liability for the abuse of minors are studied, the periodization is singled out. In particular, it is established that the period from the birth of civilization to the X century is characterized the emergence of norms of protecting sexual integrity, however, in most cases such norms protected not so much sexual integrity as property rights. The period from the X century to the beginning of the XX century is characterized by giving the child some rights. The first standards of law appear in order to protect the sexual integrity of the child. By the end of this period, the abuse of minors acquires its own characteristics and is positioned as a crime against the sexual integrity of minors. It has been established that in order to prevent sexual abuse of children, the world community has passed a number of international acts, most of them have been ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Emphasis is placed on the need to ratify certain international treaties as soon as possible, as the requirements of these regulations have already been taken into account when amending certain articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The foreign experience of criminal-legal protection of sexual inviolability of minors has been studied in order to single out provisions that can be implemented in the domestic criminal legislation during the improvement of the norm on criminal liability for molestation of minors. The following provisions deserve assessment: repeated encroachment; decriminalization of sexual relations of different individuals of the same age and development; decriminalization of sexual relations with special persons from the legislative institution by a certain age difference; establishment of criminal liability for exhibitionist actions; committing a crime by a group of people; legislative definition of lewd acts; fixing the goal as a mandatory element of the crime; establishment of criminal liability separately for contact lewd acts and contactless lewd acts; establishing responsibility of lewd acts by an adult. The concept of «object of crime - public relations» is supported. It has been proven that the main direct object of juvenile abuse is the sexual integrity of a minor. Normal physical, mental or sexual development, static education, moral and spiritual development are components of the concept of «sexual integrity of a minor». It is established that the concepts of «corruption of minors» and «lewd acts» are used as synonyms in criminal law science, with the only difference that abuse of minors is used as the name of a crime as a socially dangerous act, and lewd acts reveal the meaning of this socially dangerous act.. Lewd acts are divided into contact lewd acts and contactless lewd acts. Contact lewd acts are intended to mean any sexual acts that involve touching the victim's body. Contactless lewd acts should be understood as any acts of sexual orientation committed by the subject of the crime in the presence of the victim without direct physical contact with the body of the latter.