Toteutuuko nuoren rikoksentekijän erityisasema lapsenraiskausrikoksessa?
Avainsanat:
lapsenraiskaus, raiskaus, alaikäinen rikoksentekijä, nuoren erityisasema, rangaistus, vanhentuminenAbstrakti
Does the special status of a young perpetrator realise in rape of a child offences?
Rape of a child — a new type of offence in force since the beginning of 2023 — is applied if a perpetrator has sexual intercourse with a child under 16 years of age. Studies have shown that one quarter of the perpetrators of sexual offences against children are young and more than half of the victims are aged 13 to 15. Therefore, it is not surprising that the defendant of rape of a child may be a minor. In Finnish criminal policy, the aim has traditionally been to treat young perpetrators more gently than adults. The purpose of this article is to consider how special treatment of young people has been taken into account in rape of a child when the perpetrator is a minor.
Special treatment of young people takes place, for example, in a situation to which a restriction provision exempting from criminal liability can be applied. This requires that the act does not violate the child’s sexual self-determination and that there is no major difference in the age and maturity of the parties. Special treatment of young people is also implemented in situations where the perpetrator is sentenced for sexual abuse of a child instead of rape of a child. It is suitable for minor violations of the right to self-determination. Even in this case, the age and maturity of the parties, their mutual relationship and other circumstances are taken into account.
If the perpetrator is sentenced for rape of a child, the penalty imposed on a 15-year-old (2–10 years of imprisonment) is in abstracto very severe, especially when comparing it to the punishment imposed on an 18-year-old for raping someone of their age (1–6 years of imprisonment). Even taking into account the reduced penal scale applied to the punishment of a young person, the criminal policy objective of special treatment of a young person seems insufficient. The type of offence is also important with regard to the prosecution limitations and limitation of the right to impose a punishment. As these are linked to the penal scale, special treatment of young people is not realised during the period of limitation either.
