Ch*ld sex law is approved
with an admission by Arias

By Saray Ramírez Vindas
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff

President Óscar Arias Sánchez said Wednesday that Costa Rica is an international destination of sexual tourism with minors and the country also is a transit point for minors involved in the sex trade.

With his words, the Presidencia has come full circle from Miguel Ángel Rodríguez who in 2001 said there was no problem with sex with minors in the country.

Arias was signing a bill that the Asamblea Legislativa approved in the first two weeks of June that stiffen the penalties for sexual activity with minors.
http://www.amcostarica.com/060607.htm
Still Arias seems to suggest that the problem was one of prostitutes and foreigners who come here seeking, in the words of Arias, "jovencitas." He also said that Costa Ricans should not turn their head away from such activities, noting that mini-skirted young prostitutes with excessive makeup frequently can be seen on a street corner.

In a parallel report, Casa Presidencial said that police and the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia, the Ch*ld protection agency, conducted 280 raids of nightspots, bars, houses of prostitution and others from 1999 to 2006. They also fielded 65 complaints about Ch*ld pornography and 21 complaints about production of Ch*ld pornography.

But the report said that only 35 persons were convicted during this period. Some 10 cases still are pending, six persons were acquitted, and the suspects in the remainder of the cases were in flight or otherwise awaiting further proceedings.

Arias blamed what he called the complex social problem on poverty, inequalities, lack of opportunities, drug addiction, abandonment of school, citizen insecurity and the disintegration of the family.

Arias did not mention it, but the new law does penalize sexual activity with a minor by a relative or a person in a position of trust, like a guardian. This is the dominant circumstance of Ch*ld sex abuse in Costa Rica.

The proposed law also says that the statute of limitations for sexual crimes against minors does not begin to run until the youngster turns 18. In addition, the proposed law increases from 12 to age 13 when more serious penalties can be applied for sexual crimes. The penalty is from 10 to 16 years for sexual intercourse involving someone under 13 or an incapacitated person or when violence is used for any age.

The penalty is from two to six years for an adult who has sexual intercourse with someone between 13 and 15 years even if the younger party consents.

The law also increases the minimum term by one year for corruption (four years) and aggravated corruption (five years), which is generally enticing a minor into paid sex.

The penalty for making pornographic material with a minor would be raised from three to eight years to five to 10 years.

A new section provides a prison term of three to five years for distributing pornography to someone 13 or younger. The current penalty is one to four years. For someone over 13 but younger than 18, the penalty would be from two to four years, instead of the current one to four years.

From AM Costa Rica July 19, 2007

I never saw an underaged working girl during my whole time in SJ? However, I didn't walk the streets at night. I saw a few TV's near morazan and INS building.

I kept thinking: Twenty years in a CR prison would hurt my research activities.

On the other hand, Professor, it could lead to another pitifully understudied area of research, of which yours could be the "seminal" inquiry.

Ciaociao