Threats and trends in child sexual exploitation and abuse: COVID-19 impact

Introduction: The article is devoted to the study of changes in the vector of criminal behavior of pedophiles during a pandemic, as well as topical issues of legal regulation of responsibility for sexual violence against children committed using a high-tech environment. Materials and Methods: the theoretical basis of the study was the work of domestic and foreign scientists - specialists in the field of criminal law and criminology. In the course of writing the article, general scientific and special scientific research methods were used, which made it possible to analyze and generalize the materials collected by the author from various sources related to the subject of the study. Results: the need for a deep study of changes in the vector of criminal behavior of pedophiles during a pandemic is evidenced by the undoubtedly negative trend of an increase in the number of registered unlawful acts that infringe on the sexual freedom and sexual integrity of minors and minors committed on the Internet, during many developed countries of the world. This point of view is confirmed by statistical data provided by Interpol, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, politicians and public organizations. The article describes the experience of legal regulation (fight) against the spread of pedophilia in a high-tech environment in some foreign countries, and also analyzes various approaches of scientists and politicians to the problem under consideration. The author makes proposals aimed at improving the effectiveness of the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on responsibility for sexual crimes of a violent nature against minors and minors committed with the use of information technology. Discussion and Conclusions: the author comes to the conclusion that the methods used by the subjects of counteraction to crimes that infringe on sexual freedom and sexual inviolability of minors and minors committed on the Internet in the Russian Federation do not correspond to the current crime situation and need significant changes aimed at increasing the efficiency of the mechanism of criminal legal regulation of liability for these crimes, as well as the modernization of the system of interaction between state bodies and public organizations specializing in helping minors and minors who have suffered from violent crimes sexual nature