Differentiation and correlation of crimes against sexual integrity and sexual freedom

The relevance of the topic under consideration is predetermined by the high degree of social danger of sexual crimes. This problem is caused by the fact that it has a negative impact not only on victims of crimes, but also significantly affects public consciousness, undermining trust in social institutions and law enforcement agencies. In fact, these circumstances are also related to the fact that crimes against sexual integrity and sexual freedom of the individual are often characterized by a high degree of latency, which makes it difficult to identify and suppress them. This fact actualizes the topic of developing new approaches to the investigation and prevention of such crimes. The purpose of this study is to identify the grounds for differentiating crimes against sexual integrity and sexual freedom of the individual, identifying the essential features. The methodological basis of the research includes a set of general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, generalization, dialectical, logical, systematic methods), which were used to characterize crimes against sexual integrity and sexual freedom of the individual, and private scientific methods, including special legal (in particular, formal legal), which have found their own application in the analysis of crimes against sexual integrity and sexual freedom of the individual. It is concluded that the most common and popular classification is the differentiation of sexual crimes by nature or method of their commission, in particular, violent and non-violent forms of criminal acts are distinguished. When distinguishing crimes against sexual integrity and crimes against sexual freedom, the author proceeds from the fact that sexual integrity is a property that is generally attributed to persons under the age of 16, therefore, this object of crime is characteristic of Articles 134 and 135 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and sexual freedom is associated with the freedom of adults to choose partners and forms of sexual activity, is the direct object of crimes of Articles 131–133 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.