Criminal liability for sexual crimes (articles 131 and 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation): specific aspects of legal regulation

The article deals with the problems of defining the terms used in describing the dispositions of Articles 131 and 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The authors expressed the opinion that it is not advisable to use the categories “homosexuality” and “lesbianism” and also supported the proposal to introduce a general term - “acts of a sexual nature”. Some problems of regulation of liability for sexual abuse and violent acts of a sexual nature were considered, which are associated with the allocation of these acts as separate formal components of a crime, in connection with which the need for merging the named formal components of crimes within the framework of one article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was once again emphasized. The authors proposed changes to the criminal legislation, namely the deletion of Article 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the merger of the formal components of sexual abuse and violent acts of a sexual nature within the framework of Article 131 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with a change of the disposition and its detailed explanation in the resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.