Criminal liability for sexual offences against minors in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom

Abstract

The subject of the study is the types and forms of criminally punishable sexual violence against children available in the legislation of the United States of America, Canada and the United Kingdom. The author examines in detail the descriptions of the circle of persons who may be subjects of sexual acts with minors, enshrined in various legal norms of these countries. Their comparative characteristics are carried out, positive trends that can be implemented in the criminal legislation of the Russian Federation are identified. The concepts of "statutory rape" and "age of sexual consent", unknown to the Russian legal doctrine, are considered. The issues of compensation for harm caused to minors who suffered from sexual acts are investigated. Based on the dialectical method of cognition of the surrounding reality, the study is based on a comparative analysis of the provisions of US criminal law on the example of legislative acts of various states, Canada and the United Kingdom on combating child sexual abuse. The main conclusions of the study are: the legislation of the Anglo-Saxon countries recognizes various types of sexual violence against minors as acts of special public danger: the severity and effectiveness of punishment for these acts are quite high; The degree of elaboration of definitions concerning sexual crimes is more extensive and detailed, fixed in the norms of criminal legislation. Legally, the concepts are given and the measure of responsibility for such actions with minors as incest, sodomy, pederasty, oral copulation is defined, the pitchforks of obscene or lascivious actions and a number of others are described in detail. The additional civil liability of an adult who has had sexual intercourse with a minor in the form of monetary compensation deserves attention. The legislation of foreign countries is able to enrich the domestic norms of the criminal code in the case of the implementation of certain substantive provisions.