Art. 240 of the Criminal Code with comments

Domestic criminal legislation provided for two rules that regulate responsibility for actions that are more or less related to the occupation of prostitution. It is noteworthy that activities in pure form are not punished. The Criminal Code does not provide for criminal liability for prostitution, but recognizes the crime of involvement in it, as well as the organization of brothels and their content (Article 240, 241 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

These criminally-legal norms are one of the most contradictory in the legislation. An analysis of the judicial and investigative practices shows that at the moment there is no common position of law enforcement agencies regarding the qualifications of these types of criminal acts. This greatly complicates the courts the task of introducing justified and lawful sentences. A certain amount of clarity will be helped by a legal analysis of the composition of art. 240 of the Criminal Code.

Description of the composition

The public danger of being involved in prostitution or compelling to continue this activity is that for a certain fee an increasing number of people are involved in these antisocial actions. The simple composition reflected in Part 1 of Article 240 belongs to the category of crimes characterized by moderate severity. For its commission, the guilty person may suffer one of the following penalties:

• A fine of 200,000 rubles, or in the amount of the wage / other income of the guilty person for a period up to 18 months;
• Up to 3 years of restraint of liberty;
• Up to 3 years of forced labor;
• Up to 3 years imprisonment.

Art. 240 p. 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: signs of qualified personnel

If during the process of drawing a victim into prostitution or compelling to continue this activity, violence is used or there is a threat of its implementation, as well as the movement of the victim across the state border of Russia with subsequent retention, or the action is carried out by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, . This crime is assessed as grave and provides for a more severe punishment, expressed in depriving the guilty person of freedom for up to 6 years with restriction of freedom for a period of up to 2 years or without it.

In the comments to Art. 240 of the Criminal Code states that as a violation of certain physical effects on the victim, which is committed in addition to her will. It can be dangerous or not dangerous to health and life. In the case of causing harm, characterized as a serious crime, it is subject to qualification for the totality of articles together with Article 111 of the Criminal Code.

Description of the qualified personnel

Signs that qualify the involvement of a person in prostitution or his compulsion to continue this activity, as a particularly serious crime, reflects Part 3 of Art. 240 of the Criminal Code. These include the commission of a criminal offense as part of an organized group, as well as against a person who is a minor. The guilty person faces punishment in the form of deprivation of liberty for a period of 3-8 years. Additional sanctions may include:

• The deprivation of the right to work in a certain position, as well as the restriction on engaging in a certain type of activity for a period of up to 15 years;
• Restriction of liberty for a period of up to 2 years.

Description of the object and the objective side

A crime qualified under art. 240 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, has two objects: immediate and additional. As the first, relations (public) in the sphere of morality, morals, concerning the sexual life of citizens. An additional object is human health, its freedom and sexual inviolability.

The objective side of a criminal act finds expression in the involvement of a person in prostitution and (or) compelling him to continue this activity.

A crime qualified under art. 240 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the composition is formal. It is recognized by the legislator as having ended since the execution of any (at least one) of the specified actions that characterize the objective side. It does not matter if the person eventually became a prostitute or not.

Characteristics of the subjective side and subject

The legislator determines the subjective side of the crime in the form of direct intent. In other words, the guilty person is fully aware of the fact that he engages a person in prostitution by his illegal actions, or forces him to continue this activity and wants it. The purpose and motive can be very diverse and mandatory signs of a crime are not.

As a subject under Art. 240 of the Criminal Code may be any natural person (sane) who, by the time the crime was committed, reached the age of sixteen.

Comments on the article

To begin with, it is necessary to understand what meaning the legislator puts in the phrase "engaging in prostitution". According to the comments - this is a systematic (more than 2 times) entry of male or female persons into sexual relations for a fee with clients. Prostitution can be characterized by several signs. These include the regularity (regularity) of sexual relations, their absence due to marriage, the availability of different clients, the receipt of a reward regarded as more or less regular income. Partners at the same time can be of any gender, and the form of relations and the type of remuneration have no meaning in determining the concept of "prostitution" of meaning. This activity is not considered a crime, but is recognized as an administrative offense.

In accordance with the comments to art. 240 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, involving the victim in prostitution, assess actions aimed at the appearance of a person's desire or desire to perform these actions, or obtaining consent. However, the ways can be different: promises, persuasion, blackmail, threats, etc.

Arbitrage practice

Quite often in practice, there are controversial and ambiguous situations in the interpretation of norms that are stipulated in articles 240, 241 CC. When analyzing judicial practice, it becomes clear that the involvement in prostitution and the organization of this activity cause problems related to the qualification of these criminal acts by the courts of first instance, including in the presence of a group form of complicity, or in the aggregate of crimes.

Explanations of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on the application of these criminal law norms in practice in the form of a resolution of the Plenum is absent. In this regard, the analysis of the position of the Supreme Court seems most relevant and complete. The Judicial Board, existing in criminal cases, notes a number of mistakes made by the first instance in qualifying the actions of criminals. Taking into account this position, the following rules can be formulated for the law enforcer.

1. If there is a group entanglement in the occupation of prostitution and its organization, then the actions of accomplices should be qualified according to one form of complicity. A mistake will be considered the assessment of the actions of one of the participants, for example, in the unit of the organized crime group, and the other - as a participant in a criminal community or by prior agreement with a group of persons.
2. The actions of the organizer of the crime should be qualified as actual execution, without referring to Article 33 of the Criminal Code, when committed together with other participants in an organized group.
3. Involvement in prostitution and subsequent compulsion to continue this activity with respect to one victim should be assessed as a single crime. However, in the appointment of punishment, each action must in the judgment receive an independent assessment and a measure of criminal influence.