Beating of minors: punishment and responsibility

Crimes against children, including battery of minors, carry harsher penalties than similar acts against persons over 18 years of age. Parents or guardians of the victim can file a complaint with the court or police

The Russian Federation has created a system of measures that protect the rights and interests of minor citizens. If a crime is committed against a child, special attention is paid to its investigation, identification and prosecution of the perpetrators. Quite severe punitive measures are provided for beating a child, because the very fact of beating a minor is an aggravating circumstance.

Beating a minor by another minor

Battery is the impact of physical force on the health of another person, as a result of which various types of damage appear on the body: scratches, bruises, abrasions. Professional experts or traumatologists can assess the degree of damage caused to a person’s health during beatings. Conflict situations between children in schools can manifest themselves in different ways. Teenagers can show real aggression towards each other, which leads to beatings on one or both sides of the conflict.

Reasons for the start of the fight

There are situations in schools when peers mock each other in a rather rude manner, but not every such conflict leads to beatings. Each parent raises their child differently from others. There are secretive and uncommunicative children who are afraid to express their opinion or defend it. Another category of children feels that they are permissive and commits actions that can cause a conflict of interest.

Almost all teenagers know that there are certain boundaries of behavior that cannot be violated, but they do it. There is a widespread belief among underage teenagers that with the help of a fight you can solve any issue and gain additional respect from friends, classmates and girls. Today, computer games, the Internet, and films have become an integral part of almost every modern teenager. In the overwhelming majority of cases, they all promote and demonstrate to the child aggression and hatred, which they transfer into real life onto their peers.

It is for these reasons that conflicts arise between teenagers, which result in beatings. A showdown between teenagers can develop into a similar showdown between their parents.

How to determine the actual fact of a fight

Every parent whose child has been bullied by other teenagers wants to hold the abusers accountable. It must be remembered that criminal liability for beating a person begins after turning 16 years old.

Procedure for parents whose minor children have been physically abused:

1. Removing beatings. The harm caused must be documented. The document received will be of decisive importance at the court hearing when considering the case.
2. Visit to an educational institution. Find and personally speak with the child abuser. It is necessary to calmly and without emotions find out from him the reasons for the committed act and the circumstances of what happened.
3. Meeting with the juvenile affairs inspector. Each educational institution is assigned a juvenile police officer. It is necessary to meet with him and clarify all the information that he currently has.

1. Meeting with the offender's parents. If the parents of the attacker adequately perceive the situation, they will try to apologize and make amends for their child.

After the first attack, police officers try to convince the representatives or the victim himself to write a statement to the police. They try to have a conversation with each of the parties and convince them of the need for reconciliation.

Peculiarities of beating children

Despite the fact that everyone understands perfectly well that it is impossible to strike an adult with impunity, many perhaps forget that a child is the same person, he is just still small.
Situations involving beatings of children arise very often, and many parents believe that punishing a child for a bad grade is not considered beating at all. For many, this is a unique method of education. However, the law protects all citizens: both big and small, and it is impossible to beat a child with impunity. But the problem is that often a young child himself cannot report that he is being beaten at home. He just doesn't understand that his parents are breaking the law.

As a rule, children are beaten in dysfunctional families, and they are already under the control of law enforcement agencies. When a child is reported to have been beaten, an inspection and inquiry is carried out in order to confirm or refute this fact.

The situation when a father hits a child, and the mother is afraid to report to the police because there are no witnesses, is very common. But for a statement, only her words and a certificate of beating are enough.

Contacting law enforcement agencies

If bodily harm to a minor is systematic, you must immediately contact the police. Every time you receive a physical injury, you must document it. These documents will be of decisive importance in sentencing. To contact law enforcement agencies, you must fill out an application that will contain the following information:

• Description of the circumstances that led to the incident.
• A list of measures that was developed and applied after the first case of beating a child was recorded.
• Documents from the emergency room or a medical examination report on the level of harm caused to the victim.
• Demands to bring the offender to justice.

The police take from three to ten days to consider a submitted application. After the expiration of the established period, law enforcement agencies must initiate a criminal case or give a substantiated response about the absence of corpus delicti in the acts described in the application.

If there is a real threat to a teenager, and the police refuse to initiate a criminal case, it is necessary to write a statement to the prosecutor's office requesting an investigation.

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What responsibilities are provided?

Today there is no separate article that would provide punishment for beating. The fact is that several articles of the Criminal Code, as well as an article of the Code of Administrative Offenses, fall under this concept.

The easiest responsibility arises within the administrative framework. In this case we are talking about beatings, that is, in an isolated case of causing pain, without aggravating circumstances. In accordance with Art. 6.1.1. Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation:

• fine - 5,000-30,000 rubles;
• adm. arrest - from 10 to 15 days;
• compulsory work - from 60 to 120 hours.

The basis for qualifying an offense under the Administrative Code is the absence of hooligan motives, national or political motives.

Criminal liability for crimes against health varies according to a number of mitigating and aggravating circumstances. The table indicates the maximum measure of liability, taking into account the aggravating circumstance (the victim is a child). So, the criminal faces the following.

You need to know your rights and be able to defend them. Especially when it comes to children. If a child is threatened by a stranger or a friend, this is a cause for alarm. You can file a police report even if the attacker is unknown. The job of the police is to find him, and the citizen only needs to report and subsequently testify.

Responsibility for beating children

Beating of minors under Article 116 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for various punishments, depending on the circumstances of the crime. For beating a minor, the offender faces the following penalties:

1. Light damage: 3 months of arrest or a fine of no more than 40,000 rubles.
2. The beatings are carried out systematically: detention in places of detention for up to three years.
3. If the harm caused to health is determined to be of moderate severity, the aggressor faces up to five years in custody.
4. Causing a high degree of harm to a minor child, the offender will be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Battering a child

The easiest situation is beatings, which, according to Article 116 of the Criminal Code, are qualified as “violent actions that caused physical pain, but did not have consequences even in the form of slight harm to health.”

Now let’s decipher what all this has to do with parents and their children. The interpretation of the concept of “physical pain that has no consequences for health” can be quite broad.

Since it is not indicated how severe the pain can be, a slap on the bottom or an attempt to restrain a child by pulling his arm can, if desired, be classified as beating.

In practice, in order to open a case, it is necessary for the child to report such “beatings” inflicted by his parents. To do this, he can contact either the local police officer or by telephone to the local guardianship authorities. Relatives and neighbors can give a similar signal.

In this regard, parents are afraid that the child, offended by the spanking, may report to the police. And children who like to manipulate their parents may claim beating, even if there was no spanking.

When the question arises about a mother or father beating their child, the investigating authorities, as a rule, require the presentation of bruises, scratches or other physical signs of violence.

The problem is that most children have bruises or abrasions as a result of their physical activity, and not at all from violent actions. And it is not possible to identify exactly how they appeared. In case of doubt, the police and guardianship take the side of the child.

For the first case of beating their child, a parent will be held administratively liable under Article 6.1.1. This is fraught with a fine of 5 to 30 thousand rubles, arrest for 10–15 days, or community service for 120 hours. For the second case, criminal punishment is up to 2 years in prison. In addition, guardianship may consider depriving parental rights.

Circumstances that increase punishment

Establishing the presence of aggravating circumstances in the commission of a crime significantly increases the punishment. If the teenager was inflicted minor bodily harm, the measure of liability will be stricter in the following circumstances:

• Hooligan behavior of the attacker.
• The beatings were inflicted due to national or racial hatred.
• When committing a crime, the attacker used a weapon or an object similar in appearance to it.

If the listed aggravating circumstances are determined, the attacker faces 180 days of arrest or imprisonment for a term of no more than two years.

If the beatings are systematic, the following circumstances will be aggravating:

• The crime was committed by two or more persons
• The attacker used torture or carried out actions that caused moral suffering to the victim
• Dislike of a person because of his race, nationality or religion.

In these cases, the punishment can be increased to seven years in prison. If, as a result of the beatings, the victim received moderate or severe bodily injuries, the court considers the following factors as aggravating circumstances:

• Long recovery time for the victim.
• The presence of permanent injuries on the victim’s body.
• The beatings were carried out with harshness or with the use of torture.
• The goal of the criminal is to transplant the internal organs of the victim.
• Hooligan motives.

The minimum punishment for persons who have committed such a crime is 10 years in a maximum security colony.

How much do they give for beating minors under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation?

The type and amount of liability for beating a person under 18 depends on the type of crime.

All crimes encroaching on the life and health of minors associated with beatings can be divided into 3 types:

• beatings;
• causing harm to health of varying severity;
• torture.

Important!

Battery is the mildest crime of the above, characterized by a single or repeated blow that causes pain, which does not lead to health problems or loss of ability to work.

This offense without qualifying criteria (special circumstances) may entail:

• fine - up to 40,000.00 rubles or in the amount of the defendant’s earnings for up to 3 months;
• compulsory work - up to 360 hours;
• correctional labor - up to 6 months;
• arrest - up to 3 months.

If these actions are committed out of hooligan motives or motivated by racial, political, national, ideological or religious enmity or hatred, or motivated by enmity or hatred against any social group, then the punishment is as follows:

• compulsory work up to 360 hours;
• correctional labor for up to 1 year;
• restriction of freedom up to 2 years;
• forced labor for up to 2 years;
• arrest up to 6 months;
• imprisonment for up to 2 years.

Important!

Torture is a crime characterized by the systematic infliction of physical or mental suffering.

Such actions in the absence of qualifying signs entail:

• restriction of freedom - up to 3 years;
• forced labor - up to 3 years;
• imprisonment - up to 3 years.

If these acts were carried out in relation to two or more persons; a minor or a person in a helpless state or in financial or other dependence on the perpetrator, motivated by ideological, political, national, racial or religious enmity or hatred, then punishment may be imposed in the form of imprisonment for a term of 3 to 7 years.

Important!

Causing harm to health is a crime that is expressed in the commission of physical violence against the victim, resulting in temporary impairment of health and loss of ability to work.

Liability for causing harm to health is established depending on the severity:

• minor harm to health (Article 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
• moderate harm to health (Article 112 of the Criminal Code F);
• grievous harm to health (Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

The severity of harm to health is determined by a forensic medical expert.

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