Helpless and defenseless: MP Yatsyk supported the Prosecutor General's initiative on non-alternative life imprisonment for crimes against children

Children are not just physically weaker – they are helpless and defenseless against an abuser, emphasized People's Deputy, member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Law Enforcement Yulia Yatsyk in a comment to UNN, regarding the Prosecutor General's initiative to establish life imprisonment as an unconditional punishment for serious crimes against children.

Yes, I personally (this is not the Committee's position) support such an initiative

She said that she recently defended her dissertation on the topic of sexual crimes against children, and therefore is knowledgeable about this issue.

"The specifics of the public danger of such crimes can only be understood by participating in the process - as a prosecutor, lawyer, expert, judge... Children are not just physically weaker, they are helpless, defenseless, and if they are connected to the abuser by trust, authority, dependence or fear, then this further complicates the victim's situation many times over. Therefore, yes, I will support such an initiative," the MP expressed her position.

According to her, she has already discussed his initiative with the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko.

Yatsyk is not the only parliamentarian who has spoken out in support of the idea of an unconditional severe punishment for crimes against children. The initiative was also supported by a member of the Verkhovna Rada law enforcement committee, Vladlen Neklyudov. According to Neklyudov, it is not only about punishment for what has already been committed, but about the preventive function of law - so that potential criminals understand what punishment awaits them.

Recall

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko expressed the initiative on the need to introduce unconditional punishment in the form of life imprisonment for particularly serious crimes against children. He appealed to the Verkhovna Rada law enforcement committee with a proposal to support the relevant initiative and introduce such punishment for the murder and rape of children.

Today, life imprisonment is provided for in exceptional cases; mostly, it is about punishment in the form of 15 years of imprisonment, sometimes with the possibility of reducing the term of punishment.

It should be added that the prosecutor's office is actively seeking the maximum severe sentence - life imprisonment.

And here the question is not about severity, but about justice and safety. When a criminal knows that for such an act he will never be released, I am convinced that this will be a deterrent.

Statistics

Over the past 19 months, 67 children have been victims of intentional homicides; 531 children have suffered from sexual violence, 360 of whom are under 14 years old.