Strengthening Criminal Repression for Criminal Assaults on Minors: Is It One More Step in Implementation of the Strategy or Irrational Regulatory Activity?

The paper contains a comprehensive analysis of the amendments made to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation by Federal Laws No. 3-FZ dated January 28, 2022 and No. 38-FZ dated March 06, 2022. Noting the next round of strengthening criminal repression for pedophile assaults, the author draws attention to the legislative bias in assessing the public danger of acts, since rape or violent sexual acts committed against two or more minors are punished more severely than the murder of these victims. Having identified technical and legal flaws in the content of Part 5 of Articles 131 and 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the author identifies issues that may arise when qualifying violent sexual crimes committed against two or more minors; involving the commission of another grave or especially grave crime against the person; with a special relapse. Critically assessing the content of Part 3 of Article 133 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the author raises the question of the validity of strengthening criminal liability for group coercion to sexual acts only against minors (paragraph «a«); attribution of «use of mass media» to the number of signs that increase the public danger of harassment. The author pays special attention to one of the obvious defects of the norms of Chapter 18 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which violate the principles of equality and justice, namely, the normative separation according to the degree of public danger of sexual intercourse and sodomy or lesbianism with a person under the age of 16, which does not correspond to the principle of gender equality. The conducted legal analysis testifies not to the consistent normative implementation of the strategic course, but to the spontaneity of decisions aimed at solving particular problems.