THE TOPICAL ISSUES OF LEGISLATIVE REGULATION OF CRIMINAL OFFENSES AGAINST SEXUAL FREEDOM AND PERSONAL INVIOLABILITY

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of topical issues of legislative regulation of criminal offenses against sexual freedom and sexual integrity of the person, provided for Articles 152–1561 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In the process of research the author identified a number of shortcomings and gaps in their legislative regulation, namely: 1) contradictions in terms of «the child» (the Criminal Code does not specify which age group is included in this concept), «the minor» (a person aged 14 to 18 under Article 32 of the Civil Code of Ukraine) and «the person under 16 years of age». These contradictions arise between the content of the dispositions and the titles of Articles 156 «Corruption of minors» and 1561 «Solicitation of children for sexual purposes» of the Criminal Code of Ukraine; 2) it lack of legislative concretization of the concept of «indecent assault» in Art. 156 «Corruption of minors»; 3) dualism and competition of legal norms in the application of Part 4 of Art. 152 «Rape» and Art. 155 «Committing acts of a sexual nature with a person under the age of sixteen», associated with the presence in both articles of the possibility of «voluntary consent» of «the person under 14 years of age» to commit sexual intercourse; 4) clarification of the possibility of practical application of Art. 1561 «Sexual harassment of a child». The author proposed the following changes and additions to the provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine to eliminate these shortcomings: 1) to formulate the name of Art. 156 as «Corruption of a person under the age of sixteen» and Art. 1561 as «Solicitation for sexual purposes of a person under the age of sixteen»; 2) to define the concept of «lecherous acts» in Art. 156 «Corruption of minors», for example, as «acts related to the physical and/or intellectual depravity of the victim in the sexual sphere», including those related to «exposure or touching the genitals, incitement to natural and unnatural sexual intercourse, conducting cynical conversations on sexual topics»; 3) to exclude from the text of the disposition part 4 of Art. 152 the concept of «voluntary consent» and supplement Art. 155 by the part 3, that provides the next: «The acts provided in part one of this article, committed against a person under the age of fourteen, – will be punishable by imprisonment for a term of ten to fifteen years». It is the presence of legible, consistent and justified criminal law norms in criminal offenses against sexual freedom and integrity of the person will ensure reliable legal protection of moral values of the child and society in Ukraine and proper implementation of criminal law policy of the Ukrainian state.