Art. 131 of the Criminal Code. Rape. Criminal Code

In criminal law, the penalty for rape is stipulated in art. 131. This act is defined as sexual contact with the use of violent actions or with the threat of their use to the victims. The perpetrator is held accountable under Art. 131 and in the case of communication with a knowingly helpless person.

Legislative aspect

The Criminal Code generally did not radically change the norm that was present in Art. 117 of the Code of 1960. The new law included changes clarifying certain signs of the crime. For example, the threat of sexual intercourse began to be treated unequivocally as a threat of violence. Along with this, the new Code includes an indication of the likelihood of its application to other persons than the injured party. There were re-qualified the compositions of Art. 131-132 of the Criminal Code. The content of the definition of "sexual intercourse" was significantly narrowed. Perverted forms of rape were attributed to the composition of the crime under art. 132 and became known as violent acts of a sexual nature.

Qualifying signs

In Art. 131 of the Criminal Code included elements of a crime that were not contained in the previous Code. They include:

1. The act is committed by a person who was previously guilty of violent acts of a sexual nature.
2. The onset of death (Part 4, Article 131 of the Criminal Code).
3. Presence of special cruelty towards the victim or other persons.
4. Infection of the victim with a venereal disease (Article 131, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
5. Infliction of serious harm to health or other serious consequences for a woman.
6. Infection with the victim of HIV-infection (Part 3, Article 131 of the Criminal Code).

Some of these features were previously considered as part of a complex of consequences of particular gravity that caused rape. Art. 131 in the modern edition does not mention them, but includes these elements in qualifying compositions.

Changes

Art. 131 of the Criminal Code was subjected to repeated adjustments. FZ No. 162, for example, the qualifying feature of the composition "repeated or committed an act previously guilty of acts of a sexual nature" was excluded. Act No. 215 significantly increased the responsibility for sexual intercourse with minors and minors. The same Federal Law excluded the indication of knowledge of the malefactor about the age of the said victims. Law No. 377 includes additional punishments for qualified personnel. It is represented by the restriction of freedom. The responsibility for raping minors and juveniles of Federal Law No. 14 has been further tightened up. Life imprisonment is foreseen for persons previously convicted of an offense against the sexual inviolability of a minor. In addition, Art. 131 provides that victims who have not reached the age of 12 years should be recognized as being in a helpless condition.

An object

As his art. 131 calls sexual freedom or the inviolability of women. The latter definition applies to victims who have not reached the age of 16, or are unable to consent to sexual intercourse due to dementia or other mental disorder. Additional facultative objects can be:

1. Bodily inviolability.
2. Life and health of women.
3. Normal development of a minor or minor in the mental and physical terms.

As a victim of rape, only a woman can be considered. In modern practice, the question of recognizing it as such can not depend on the state of its psyche, social status, previous behavior, or moral character.

Art. 131 CC: comment on the objective side

This part of the crime includes:

1. Directly committing intercourse.
2. Alternative methods of action (the use of violence or the threat of its application to a woman or other persons, her helpless condition).

Based on this, three types of crime are distinguished:

1. The applicants are guilty of violence against women or other subjects.
2. Using the helplessness of the victim.
3. The threat of violence.

If a person seeks sexual intercourse from the victim through other means - a promise to marry, deceit, etc., then such behavior can not be qualified under art. 131. In a number of publications there is an indication that some forms of deception come into contact with the helpless state of the victim. For example, a woman enters into an intercourse, having a misconception about the identity of the sexual partner (taking a stranger for a spouse, for example), or because of ignorance and under the influence of false information, she perceives contact as an indispensable element of the medical procedure. In these cases, according to some authors, such acts can be qualified as rape, which is committed using the helplessness of the victim, who is not aware of the social significance and nature of the actions applied to her.

Subject of crime

As a man it can only be a man who has reached the age of 14. A woman in the qualification of a crime can only be a co-executor. This is the case if it uses physical influence to overcome the resistance provided by the victim in the course of group abuse (Article 131, part 2 of the Criminal Code). As a subject of the crime , a person who has conspired or otherwise persuaded others who are not subject to liability (insane or juvenile) also acts as a subject of the crime , to commit violent intercourse. In this case, there is no complicity.

Goals and motives

They do not act as mandatory elements of the composition. As a rule, rape is committed to satisfy the needs - on sexual motive. However, there are other cases. For example, rape can be committed out of jealousy, hooligan motives and so on. There are cases of abuse from revenge as a response to the unwillingness of the victim to marry, the act "for hire" for selfish purposes. According to the results of sociological research, since the beginning of the 21st century in Russia, about 3% of raped women have been hired instead of applying to the police for the commission of violent acts against daughters, sisters or wives of criminals.

The continued and cumulative crime

If several sexual intercourses were not interrupted, or there was a short time between them, and the circumstances of the rape indicated a single intent of the perpetrator to commit identical actions, then the act is considered as a single continuation. In the case of a long break between crimes, or if there is no unity of intent, the deed is treated as a set of episodes. Art. 131 is imputed in this situation several times by the number of rapes.

Qualification features

In connection with the fact that other actions having a sexual orientation, except for sexual intercourse, are not covered by those specified in Art. 131, their enforced use in the process, before or after the act, forms a set of crimes, including the signs provided for in Art. 132. For the qualification of the deed, the existence of a time gap between acts will not matter. Similarly, consistent rape with violence against two victims is considered simultaneously.

Severe harm

Intentional infliction of beatings, damage to health of medium and mild degree is covered by the composition of the article in question. These acts do not require qualification in the aggregate. But if violence has been applied, or if the threat of its use has been used against other persons, these actions are considered in accordance with the relevant articles. In case of deliberate infliction of serious harm to the health of the victim during sexual intercourse, or the action associated with it, is separately qualified under Article 111. Damage to the physical condition through negligence is covered by Part 3, Art. 131 of the Criminal Code (in item "b"). The additional qualification in this case is not required. The actions of the subject, who during the sexual intercourse deliberately caused serious harm to the woman's health, which subsequently led to her death, should there be no other signs in the aggregate in accordance with Part 1, Art. 131 and part 4, art. 111.

Murder

In the case of committing it during rape, the act is qualified according to the totality of the compositions of Art. 105 (Part 2) and 131. If the murder occurred after an outrage or an attempt on him to conceal a crime, from revenge for the resistance of the victim, the crime is treated similarly in two articles. In a number of publications there is an opinion that the corrections that were made in Art. 16 of the Code of the Federal Law of July 21, 2004, require the qualification of rape, aggravated by murder, as a circumstance that entails stricter punishment. The authors of such publications consider that the act should be considered only as a murder, and the sanctions should be more stringent, taking into account the additional actions of the perpetrator - outraging the victim. Thus, punishment should be appointed exclusively under item "k", part 2, art. 105. But this interpretation of the crime in judicial practice does not confirm. The Constitutional Court, in particular, gave explanations for one of the acts committed in the circumstances. The authorized body explained that the murder committed during the rape of the victim is qualified by the combination of the two articles.