Practice of application of punishment for trafficking in human beings

Abstract

The article established the peculiarities of the application of punishment for trafficking in human beings based on the analysis of 300 convictions passed for the period from 2010 to 2019, which came into force. To this end, it summarizes data on 430 convicts for this crime.
 The article clarifies the peculiarities of the consideration of the guilty person by courts, elaborates on the circumstances that mitigate and aggravate the punishment and draws attention to the main mistakes that occur during this process.
 It establishes that 98,8% of persons convicted of trafficking in human beings were sentenced to imprisonment. Exercising the right to impose a milder punishment than provided by law, courts sentenced 1,2% of convicts to others, alternative to imprisonment, punishments: restraint of liberty (one person) and a fine (four persons).
 The article finds that the range of sentences imposed by courts for trafficking in human beings is extremely wide – from 1 to 10 years in prison. At the same time, in a significant number (21%) of cases, the courts imposed this sentence for a lower term than the one defined as the minimum in Part 1 of Art. 149 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (three years). It also draws attention to the fact that the courts have never (!) sentenced convicts to more than 10 years of imprisonment, although the sanction of Part 3 of Art. 149 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine provides for this act up to 15 years in prison. In addition, it was noted that only 14,6% of convicted traffickers were sentenced to more than 5 years in prison.
 The article concludes that there are no grounds for reviewing the existing sanctions under Art. 149 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, as the penalties provided for in them generally correspond to the real public danger of this encroachment and to the foreign experience in penalizing trafficking in human beings that was considered in the article.
 The article also shows data illustrating the practice of sentencing convicts depending on the purpose of exploitation, which they pursued by committing this act.
 It was found that the courts sentenced 29,5% of convicts for trafficking in human beings to less severe punishment than provided by law.
 The article establishes that 41,4% of persons who committed human trafficking were sentenced to the actual serving of punishment, while 58,6% of persons were released from punishment and serving it. Among these persons, 96,4% were released from serving a probation sentence, 2,4% were pregnant women and women with children under the age of seven released from serving a probation sentence (Article 79 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), 1,2% – released from punishment in connection with the expiration of the statute of limitations (Part 5 of Article 74 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).