Domestic criminal legislation provided for two rules governing responsibility for actions related to prostitution in one way or another. It is noteworthy that activities in their pure form are not punished. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not criminalize prostitution, however, it is considered a crime to engage in it, as well as to organize brothels and their maintenance (Articles 240, 241 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
These criminal law standards are one of the most controversial in the law. The analysis of judicial and investigative practice shows that at the moment there is no single position of law enforcement agencies regarding the qualification of these types of criminal acts. This greatly complicates the task for the courts to make informed and lawful sentences. A legal analysis of the composition of Art. 240 of the Criminal Code.
Description of the crime
The public danger of involvement in prostitution or compulsion to continue this activity lies in the fact that for a fee, an increasing number of people are involved in these antisocial activities. The simple composition reflected in paragraph 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 punishments:
- a fine of 200 thousand rubles, or in the amount of wages / other income of the guilty person for a period of up to 18 months;
- up to 3 years of freedom restriction;
- up to 3 years of forced labor;
- up to 3 years in prison.
Art. 240 h. 2 of the Criminal Code: signs of a qualified composition
If in the process of involving the victim in prostitution or forcing him to continue this activity, violence is used or there is a threat of its implementation, as well as the transfer of the victim across the Russian state border with subsequent retention, or the action is carried out by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, then we are talking about qualified staff . This crime is assessed as grave and provides for a harsher punishment, which is expressed in the deprivation of the guilty liberty for a term of up to 6 years with restriction of liberty for a period of up to 2 years or without it.
In the comments to Art. 240 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation states that a certain physical impact on the victim is regarded as violence, which is committed against her will. It can be dangerous or not dangerous to health and life. In the event of damage characterized as a serious crime, it is subject to qualification in the aggregate of articles together with Article 111 of the Criminal Code.
Description of highly qualified staff
The signs qualifying a person’s involvement in prostitution or forcing him 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 in relation to a person who is a minor. The perpetrator faces a sentence of imprisonment of 3-8 years of freedom. An additional sanction may be:
- deprivation of the right to work in a certain position, as well as a restriction on engaging in a certain type of activity for up to 15 years;
- restriction of freedom for a period of up to 2 years.
Description of the object and the objective side
Crime qualified under Art. 240 of the Criminal Code, has two objects: direct and additional. The first are relations (public) in the field of morality, moral standards relating to the sexual life of citizens. An additional object is human health, his freedom and sexual integrity.
The objective side of the criminal act is expressed in drawing a person into prostitution and (or) forcing him to continue this activity.
Crime qualified under Art. 240 of the Criminal Code, the composition is formal. It is recognized by the legislator as completed from the moment any (at least one) of the indicated actions that characterize the objective side is performed. It doesn’t matter if the person eventually became involved in prostitution or not.
Characteristics of the subjective side and subject
The legislator defines 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, through his illegal actions, involves a person in prostitution, or forces him to continue this activity and wants it to. The purpose and motive in this case can be very diverse and mandatory signs of a crime are not.
As a subject under Art. 240 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation may be any natural person (sane) who, by the time the crime was committed, has reached the age of sixteen.
Comments on the article
First you need to understand what the legislator puts into the phrase “engaging in prostitution”. According to the comments, this is a systematic (more than 2 times) sexual or male engagement for a fee with clients. Prostitution can be characterized by several signs. These include the systematic (regularity) of sexual relations, the absence of their conditionality by marriage, the presence of different clients, the receipt of remuneration, regarded as a more or less regular income. Partners can be of any gender, and the form of relations and the type of remuneration do not matter when defining the concept of “prostitution”. 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 under the involvement of the victim in prostitution, actions aimed at creating a person’s desire or desire to perform these actions, or obtaining consent, are considered. Moreover, the methods can be different: promises, persuasion of blackmail, threats, etc.
Arbitrage practice
Quite often, in practice, controversial and controversial situations arise in the interpretation of the norms that are provided for in Articles 240, 241 of the Criminal Code. In the analysis of judicial practice, it becomes clear that the involvement in prostitution and the organization of this activity causes problems associated with the qualification of these criminal acts by the courts of first instance, including in the presence of a group form of complicity, or with a combination of crimes.
There are no explanations of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation regarding the application of these criminal law norms in practice in the form of a resolution of the Plenum. In this regard, the analysis of the position of the Supreme Court seems to be the most relevant and complete. The Judicial Collegium existing in criminal cases notes a number of mistakes made by the first instance in qualifying the actions of criminals. Given this position, the following rules can be formulated for the law enforcer.
- If there is a group involvement in engaging in prostitution and its organization, then the actions of accomplices should be qualified according to one form of complicity. An assessment of the actions of one of the participants, for example, as part of an organized criminal group, and of the other as participating in a criminal community or by prior conspiracy by a group of people, will be considered a mistake.
- 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.
- Involvement in prostitution and subsequent coercion to continue this activity against one victim should be assessed as a single crime. However, upon sentencing, each action must receive an independent assessment and measure of criminal effect in the sentence.