Through the approval of the Law for the prevention of harassment of minors by electronic or virtual means, known as grooming, those who commit this act could receive a sentence of up to 12 years in prison.
Increasing penalties
The initiative of the deputy head of the National Restoration fraction, Floria Segreda, includes changes in six articles of the Penal Code. For example, number 167 will change to indicate that whoever uses social networks or any other computer or telematic means to seek sexual encounters for himself, for another or for groups, with minors or incapacitated persons, will receive a penalty of six to 12 years in prison, and not four to ten years as previously established.
Another of the changes was raised in 167 bis, so that the penalty for establishing communications of sexual or erotic content – whether or not they include images, videos, texts or audios – with minors, is two to four years old, and not one to three.
Enormous commitment
“The commitment of all those involved in this process has been enormous and I am glad that it was approved in the second debate. With this we will be able to prevent, combat and punish sexual crimes against minors through the Internet,” said Segreda. For the congresswoman, regulating this type of behavior is complex, mainly because information technologies are constantly advancing and legal reforms are slow.
“This hinders the work of criminal law to regulate this type of behavior effectively, but with this project we seek to provide comprehensive protection to children and adolescents who, due to their high consumption of digital platforms, become a vulnerable population in the face of these sexual predators ”, assured the National Restoration deputy. Segreda had proposed creating the National Day to combat grooming, an initiative that was approved last February.
