Children Rights Activists in the Duma Demand Capital Punishment for Pedophiles
A new set of amendments to the criminal code adopted by the State Duma implies supreme penalty for pedophiles. Deputy Chair of the State Duma from United Russia Party Irina Yarovaya suggested the initiative. It was supported by all four factions. It implies life sentence for, I quote: "committing a sexual crime against children younger than fourteen." Unlike the current law, that implies supreme penalty for a second violation, the new one will instantly put them behind the bars for good. Approved by the Supreme Court and the Children's Right Commissioner Anna Kuznetsova and the government. The only thing left is to officially approve it during the hearings. The MPs are sure that it won't require much time. It's not just about making the sanctions against pedophilia stricter.
Anastasia Efimova will tell us the details about the amendments.
- Manufacturing and possession of child pornography are now considered a felony, right?
- Yes, the Internet will be regulated in a stricter way in case the amendments get adopted.
No conditional release no amnesty and life sentence as a supreme penalty for those who are found guilty of committing a sexual crime against children. However, there are some peculiarities.
Irina Yarovaya, Deputy Chair of the State Duma: "The new law will punish crimes against underage children that had grave and particularly grave consequences or resulted in manslaughter. All skeptics ought to know that the current Russian criminal code already implies the supreme penalty for those who killed or sexually abused a child."
The statistics produced by the MPs argue in favor of the new measures. In 2017, 9300 children suffered from sexual abuse. 40% of them were aged from 0 to 10. In such cases, children usually get abused at home by their families. That's why now, those aware of the horrible abuse but preferred to keep silent will also get punished.
Anna Kuznetsova, Children's Right Commissioner: "The current statistics say that even though the number of crimes against minors has dropped the number of sexual abuse cases is increasing. We've insisted on conducting measures to make the punishment stricter and build a series of barriers between the criminal and their victim".
Still, lawyers believe that the amendments might not get adopted. The document suggests canceling the limitation period because an intimidated kid is unlikely to call for help but will point at their abuser when they grow up. But will the investigation be able to prove the guilt after so many years? Or will the court base its verdict on indirect evidence alone?
Anna Levchenko, "Sdai Pedofila" movement ("Rat Out the Pedophile" in Russian): "It's not like somebody comes and claims they got raped 15-20 years ago, like those Hollywood stars do, and the suspect instantly goes to prison. It's different. There is a whole set of expert evaluations that work equally after 12 months, 10 years, or 15 years".
Not all lawyers trust these evaluations. Recalling the case of Vladimir Makarov who was charged with sexually abusing his own daughter. There was a drawing that made the psychologist conclude that the family was abusive. The indirect evidence was enough for the guilty verdict.
The possibility of slander also poses a threat. A music teacher Anatoly Ryabov was accused of harassing his pupil by her shrewish mom although there was no direct evidence. It was really difficult to prove the teacher’s innocence.
Anton Belyakov, member of State Duma: "Many aspects were excluded from the bill. Many debatable paragraphs have to be reviewed. Many legislative innovations are being considered by the special Federation Council Work Group. But the remaining amendments raised no doubts among the experts the representatives of the Supreme Court and the government".
The remaining amendments also criminalize online propaganda of pedophilia, prohibit the convicts to ever work with children, and strictly control those who served their sentence and was released from prison. All amendments will be discussed and might even get disputed. But most importantly, no one is going to ignore the issues of child abuse.
Anastasia Efimova on the supreme penalty for pedophiles.