Criminal Liability for Violent Sexual Crimes in the CIS Member States

The article is devoted to a comprehensive comparative legal analysis of criminal liability for violent sexual crimes in the CIS member states. The author focuses on identifying common features and differences in the regulation of liability for rape and other violent acts of a sexual nature. It is shown that most states are characterized by a single object of protection (sexual freedom of the individual), similar structures of structures, a uniform understanding of the methods of commission (violence, threat of violence, use of helplessness) and general requirements for the subject, including the minimum age of criminal responsibility. At the same time, significant differences in legislative techniques and approaches to qualification are revealed: from the classical dualism of “rape and sexual violence” to the Armenian model of a single composition of sexual violence, as well as special regulation of responsibility based on historical continuity in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The analysis of judicial practice and explanations of the higher courts demonstrates their key role in shaping the real content and boundaries of the respective structures, which makes it possible to justify the need for further harmonization and borrowing of the most successful solutions in the interests of a uniform and fair criminal legal assessment of suchencroachments.