Man is not only a biological being, but also a social one. That is, each of us cannot be outside society, in complete solitude. Through social interconnection, people create amazing things. In fact, it was the consolidation of society that led to the technological evolution that continues in the world to this day. But the social character of a person is also determined by the presence of certain powers, which are the basis of the legal regime of each person. Such legal freedoms allow us all to implement certain actions of a particular sphere of life. However, the legal basis of social interaction is structured in such a way that the freedoms of each of the people should not be violated by other persons. The fundamental freedoms include the right to sexual integrity. This term has an extensive legal meaning, which indicates its importance. Along with this, sexual immunity very often becomes the object of sexual crimes, which confirms the importance of this category.
Sexual immunity: concept
As we indicated earlier, the legal policy of each person is characterized by the presence of certain rights and obligations. In this case, we are interested in the first category. Therefore, the sexual integrity of the person is an integral element of the constitutional status of each person individually. This freedom is enshrined in the constitutions of many states, and, in particular, the Russian Federation. This fact allows us to say that sexual integrity is not only authorized by the state at the highest level, but also protected by it. That is, for any violation of this freedom the guilty person will be legally liable. It should be noted that sexual integrity ensures the normal functioning of a particular person. The content of this freedom provides a person’s free choice in the process of organizing his sexual life and in other related fields.
Characterization of sexual freedom from the perspective of criminal law
The category mentioned in the article is not only affected by the Constitution. Sexual freedom and the inviolability of the person is one of the objects of criminal law of the Russian Federation. This means that all social relations arising on the basis of this category are protected by the norms of this industry. Therefore, any negative actions that violate sexual freedom and sexual integrity of the person will entail criminal measures to influence the guilty person. This factor is extremely important because attacks on people in this industry of their freedoms have extremely negative consequences. They are usually expressed in the form of mental and physical harm. In the first case, a person receives psychological trauma due to attacks on his integrity. Physical harm may occur due to violent acts that were used in violation of freedom. It follows that we can talk not only about the legal protection of sexual freedom and inviolability, but also about a whole system of socially dangerous acts, which are provided for by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.They allow you to protect people and their specific freedom from illegal actions that can cause significant harm.
Sexual Offenses
If we ignore the criminal law of Russia, we can see that in almost every state there are a number of actions against human freedoms that have the status of socially dangerous. Crimes against sexual integrity in this case are no exception. In almost all modern states of any kind, attacks on this object are prosecuted. Based on this, we can distinguish their most "classical" concept. Thus, crimes against sexual integrity are gross dangerous violations of existing social rules in the field of sexual relations and morality.
The object of these crimes, as a rule, is complex. This is not only sexual inviolability in its classical form, but also moral social norms, human health, the development of minors of a mental and physical nature. Thus, such crimes in most cases encroach on several fairly important social categories.
Signs of Sexual Offenses
Given the legislative consolidation and specific nature of the acts of increased danger mentioned earlier in the article, we can distinguish their most “vivid” signs. It should be noted that scientists in the field of criminal law have a mixed approach to the problems of considering crimes against sexual integrity and sexual freedom of an individual. Nevertheless, a number of classical features that characterize these acts should be mentioned, for example:
- crimes against sexual freedom are always sexually oriented;
- they violate the way established in society of sexual relations between people;
- these crimes are always committed with intent;
If you analyze the presented signs, then the question arises about the normal way of sexual relations. What is this category? Again, there is no consensus among scientists about this category. A similar problem arises from the fact that sexual relations are more regulated not by legal but by moral standards that have been established in society over a certain period of time. If we analyze the legislative framework, then only in a few acts there is the concept of “sexual relations”. However, its meaning is not disclosed. If we analyze sexual relations from the standpoint of morality and common sense, then the normal way of this category is characterized by the following features:
- the person has reached the age at which he can be a normal participant in sexual intercourse;
- the person is aware of the physiological and social aspects of sexual relations;
- sexual relations arise solely on a voluntary basis and cannot be realized under duress;
- the normal structure of the presented category is characterized by a natural mechanism of intercourse;
- a significant role in the sexual relations of our state is played by the obligatory absence of a kinship between partners.
It is on the basis of these characteristics that many of the norms of the Criminal Code have been built, which enshrine crimes against sexual freedom and sexual integrity of the person.
Russian criminal law and the place of sexual crimes in it
In such a legislative act as the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, there are a number of norms that establish the legal protection of relations specified in the article of the sphere. Crimes against sexual integrity and sexual freedom constitute an entire chapter of the Criminal Code. Thus, the legislator most fully regulates these legal relations in order to bring to justice those who want to violate them or actually realize their plan.Crimes against sexual inviolability and sexual freedom include five basic acts, namely:
- rape;
- coercion to acts of a sexual nature;
- violent sexual activity;
- intercourse with minors;
- depraved actions.
The rules establishing responsibility for the actions presented are found in Chapter 18 of the Criminal Code.
Juvenile Sex
Earlier, the author examined the general trends in the integrity of relations in the field of sexual contacts of people. That is, the most standard characteristic of this category was presented. But in the modern world, one can often come across such a concept as sexual freedom of minors. In general, this category meets all the principles and features of the classical. However, its characteristic feature is the fact that the minor is the person involved. This can be called any person under the age of 16 years, if we are talking about the legislation of the Russian Federation. Minors have a specific legal status. It is usually endowed with a more stringent legal framework. They are manifested in the fact that full persons can not have sex with minors in any cases. Because it will be punished by law.
Specificity of minor status
There are many quite interesting points that characterize the legal regime of persons under 16 years of age. The specifics of legal protection in this case is due, first of all, to the lack of puberty in such individuals. This thesis characterizes the stage of ontogenesis, when a person gets a real opportunity to reproduce. In other words, before puberty a person cannot fully enter into the same relationship with anyone. At the same time, the legislator built a fairly strict framework for such contacts. Sexual relations with minors have become the subject of criminal law. This indicates the presence of the most significant legal consequences for violators of the regime of sexual freedom of minors.
Crimes against the sexual integrity of minors
Deliberate especially dangerous acts against persons who have not reached maturity for engaging in sexual contacts are strictly governed by criminal law. In various states, actions of this kind are qualified in completely different ways. In this case, everything will depend on specific legislation. For example, in some countries, acts of increased social danger of a sexual nature directed at adolescents and children are singled out separately. As for the Russian Federation, crimes against the sexual inviolability of minors are acts that are criminalized in accordance with article 134 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. She, in turn, contains the norm that any actions with a person who has not reached the age of 16 are punishable by law. Moreover, the age of the person is of fundamental importance for legal qualifications. After all, it will be he who will influence whether article 134 will be used specifically or not.
Composition of a crime against a minor
Article 134 of the Criminal Code has its own internal structure. It is she who allows you to highlight the actual commission of the crime. As we know, the composition of any crime consists of the following elements, namely: subject, object, subjective and objective side. When analyzing each part, you can see the specifics of crimes against sexual freedom, sexual integrity of minors. The object of the crime is relations in the field of protection of puberty of persons who have not actually reached 16 years of age.In addition, this element of a socially dangerous act embraces the process of normal physiological and mental development of a person. An optional object, as a rule, is the health of a minor. Therefore, during sexual intercourse until maturity, quite serious physiological harm is inflicted.
Concerning the objective side of the crime, then this element covers acts characterized as sexual intercourse. It should be noted that in this case, we are talking about sexual contact between a man and a woman. However, in part 2 of Article 134 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, norms were also found that characterize unnatural types of intercourse, for example, sodomy or lesbianism. Moreover, acts of this nature are a qualifying feature of the crime. That is, they burden the very fact of violation of sexual freedom of a minor. It should be noted that such an element as the objective side of the crime exists regardless of whether sexual intercourse was carried out under threat or lack thereof. That is, even if the initiator of the communication was a minor, responsibility for a full-fledged person will still come.
The subject of a crime against sexual integrity, personal freedom, under the age of 16, will always be an adult. However, he should not be married to a minor. The subjective side in all cases without exception is characterized by the presence of direct intent. But in this case, judicial practice provides a significant role for qualifying an act. The sexual integrity of a 16-year-old person is violated in any case. However, there are situations when, due to the physiological characteristics of the victim, the attacker may not be aware of his real age. Therefore, the investigating authorities must necessarily find out the fact that the criminal understands that a particular person is a minor.
Sex crimes in different countries of the world
In almost all modern states, there are frameworks that protect the sexual human freedom. Of course, the legislation of each state has its own vision on the problems of these crimes. In addition, among scientists from different countries there is no general agreement on the place of socially dangerous acts of a sexual nature in criminal law and acts of this nature. For example, in states such as Vietnam, Kazakhstan, China, and Slovakia, there is no separate institution of sex crime. As a rule, such acts are included in sections where attacks on the person are fixed. This factor plays a rather significant role. After all, the existence of a separate section on sexual crimes indicates the existence of an effective legal mechanism to prevent and suppress such phenomena. In other words, the allocation of socially dangerous acts of this industry makes it possible to more fully control them and bring to justice those responsible for their commission.
However, in some countries there is a big problem with the development of legal protection for crimes of a sexual nature. For example, in Turkey, or rather, in the criminal law of a given power, the concept of “sexual freedom” still does not exist. Because many people, under the influence of conservative trends, identify this legal term with promiscuity. That is, for the population of Turkey, an encroachment on sexual freedom is unthinkable, since it is initially something negative. There is no such conservatism in the laws of European countries. Therefore, crimes against sexual freedom in most cases are qualified equally.For example, according to the ancestral object, a special part of the criminal law contains a separate section of the mentioned socially dangerous acts in countries such as Spain, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Poland, Ukraine, etc.
Thus, we examined the concept of sexual inviolability, as well as the features of crimes that encroach on the presented object. It should be noted that such dangerous acts bring great harm not only to specific people, but also to the moral principles of society. Therefore, the effectiveness of the legal regime for the application of liability to persons who have committed sexual offenses must be monitored and universally modernized.