Aggravating circumstances of criminal offences against sexual freedom and sexual inviolability (Articles 152 and 153 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of aggravating circumstances of criminal offenses against sexual freedom and sexual inviolability under Articles 152 and 153 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It highlights the controversial aspects of the issues under consideration, identifies certain inaccuracies in the current legislation on criminal liability for these acts, and makes proposals for improving some of the aggravating circumstances provided for in these articles of the Criminal Code.
First of all, it should be noted that most articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine contain an aggravating feature of a group of persons by prior conspiracy. The legislator has specified only the commission of an unlawful act by a group of persons, which is positive, since in this case this feature covers an offense committed by a group of persons without prior conspiracy, as well as with prior conspiracy, which makes the concept broader. The author does not agree with the classification of a group of persons as a particularly aggravated offense in articles 152 and 153 of the Criminal Code. Having analyzed the Criminal Code of Ukraine in terms of aggravating and particularly aggravating features, in which a group of persons is an aggravating feature and is placed together with repetitions in other parts of the articles, the author concludes that the new version of Articles 152 and 153 of the Criminal Code violates the legislative system. Attention is also drawn to the fact that Articles 152 and 153 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine do not contain an aggravating feature of committing an act by an organized group.
In this regard, it is proposed to include such a feature as the commission of an act by a group of persons in the second parts of these articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine as an aggravating feature together with repetition, and not as a particularly aggravating feature, and to include the commission of these acts by an organized group in the third parts of articles 152 and 153 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - as a particularly aggravating feature.
The author also paid special attention to the issue of the correct understanding of grave consequences as a particularly aggravating feature of criminal offenses under parts 5 of Articles 152 and 153 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The author suggests that grave consequences include physical, moral and material damage caused to the victim.