Analysis of the practice of applying punishment for human trafficking

Based on the analysis of 80 convictions that have entered into force, adopted by the courts of first instance for the period from 2020 to 2024, the article establishes the peculiarities of the application of punishment for human trafficking. For this purpose, data on 103 people convicted of this crime have been summarized. The peculiarities of the courts’ consideration of the identity of the perpetrator, the circumstances that mitigate and aggravate the punishment are clarified, attention is drawn to the main mistakes that occur in this case. It was established that 96,1% of persons convicted of human trafficking were sentenced by the court to imprisonment. Four (3,9%) convicts (in all cases convicted under Part 2 of Article 149 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) were sentenced by the courts to a fine (in order to impose a milder punishment than provided for by law). Six (5,8%) convicts were sentenced to an additional punishment in the form of confiscation of property. It was found that the minimum term of punishment in the form of imprisonment for a certain period for human trafficking reached 2 years (in the order of imposing a milder punishment than provided for by law), the maximum - 8 years. For the most part, the courts imposed punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 5 years, which thus allowed them to release the convict from serving a sentence with probation. Attention is also drawn to the fact that the maximum term of punishment imposed by the court in the form of imprisonment (8 years) is the minimum term of this punishment provided for by the sanction of Part 3 of Art. 149 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In this regard, it is concluded that Ukrainian legislator and domestic courts have different assessments of the social danger of trafficking in human beings. It was established that only 15 persons (14,6%) were sentenced to serve their sentences, the remaining 88 persons (85,4%) were released from serving a sentence on probation (Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Attention is drawn to the fact that only 11 people were sentenced to imprisonment for a certain period of time with its actual serving (out of 99 people to whom the court imposed this punishment), while a fine was applied to the rest. Thus, not even every seventh offender is sentenced to actual serving a sentence for human trafficking, and only every ninth person is sentenced to imprisonment with actual serving it. It was shown that decisions to release a person from serving a probationary sentence are often not supported by proper arguments or the relevant arguments are unconvincing due to their formal nature.