The New Bill Proposes Strengthening the Punishment for Pedophilia

According to the official data of the Prosecutor General of Armenia, there were 63 sex-related crimes committed in 2008, 73 in 2009, and there were already 53 sex-related crimes during the first half of 2010, of which 70% were against children.

According to Davit Tumasyan, the author of the draft amendment to the law, regarding chemical sterilization, this is only the official data, whereas the real picture is much worse. In most cases the families try to keep the scandal within the household.

On October 26, 2011 Deputy Viktor Dallakyanstated in the National Assembly that mandatory castration is necessary for stopping the cases of child sexual abuse. Viktor Dallakyan and Lawyer Davit Tumasyan developed a joint draft and presented it to the National Assembly for hearing. According to the draft, the legislation should be supplemented by adding chemical sterilization.

Speaking about this amendment to the legislation, Davit Tonoyan notes: “This is not a type of punishment. This is a medical means prescribed with the punishment, which should only be prescribed after an examination.”

Tumanyan notes, that there will be a comprehensive examination. That is, they will not only find out if the person has some inclination and deviation, but also will consider the person’s physiological peculiarities. If the examination concludes that such sterilization will worsen the person’s health condition or will cause uncontrollable aggression, this medical means will not be prescribed.

Tumasyan notes that there will be psychologists working with the person, so that he voluntarily agrees to the injection of this testosterone hormone. Certainly, this is for the cases when it is the person’s first instance of sexual abuseagainst a child.

Sexologist Vrezh Shahramanyan notes that pedophilia is a sexual desire disorder, while sterilization is not yet a complete elimination ofa person’s abnormalsexual preferences.

“Initially, as a process, it notably suppresses. But if a person has a developed an unhealthy inclination towards children, the desire does not extinguish completely. At the beginning, it will be deeply suppressed, but after some time it can arouse again. Psychotherapy is one of the ways of treating it.If the patient does not have schizophrenic problem he should be treated with psychotherapeutic means first, before making a judgment.”

Artur Sakunts, Chairman of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, is concerned: “We do not have a serious base for normal forensic medical and psychological examinations in this sphere. That is, the law can enforce it in such a manner that it will cause a restriction of rights instead of actually solving the problem.”

“The core is not that there is an increase of crimes. Completely different actions are needed: educational, moral, and social. The problem with the development of social institutions should be solved first. Maybe that might have some effect, after all, changing the law is the easiest way,” notes Sakunts.

Mikayel Danielyan, President of Helsinki Association is convinced: “Today, in Armenia, you can change the law as much as you want; the enforcement is unacceptable, because the legal system is corrupt and unprofessional. The legal system can be reformed but the possibility of judicial error remains. Fearing the judicial error, such laws should be adopted very carefully.”

Source: www.azatutyun.am