Bill No. 1074 on compensation for victims of sexual offences, crimes against children and domestic violence
03.01.2023
Criminal law • Compensation to victims
Bill No. 1074 on compensation for victims of sexual offences, crimes against children and domestic violence, received by the National Council on 19 December 2022, aims to “establish a system of compensation for victims to offset the insolvency of offenders”, as well as “to give greater recognition to the devastating nature of violence against women and thus to strengthen the compatibility of measures taken at national level with the international commitments” of Monaco (Explanatory Memorandum, p. 3).
This compensation could be paid for convictions that became final in the two years preceding the entry into force of the law.
SUMMARY :
The proposed compensation scheme would be applicable to the following offences :
1°) Offences of a sexual nature provided for in :
• Section IV of Chapter I of Title II of Book III of the Criminal Code (sexual exhibition, sexual harassment, sexual blackmail, sexual assault, rape, debauchery or corruption of minors, use of a minor for sexual activities);
• Article 247 of the Penal Code (castration).
2°) Crimes and misdemeanours against children as provided for in Section VII of Chapter I of Title II of Book III of the Penal Code (abduction, concealment or suppression of a child, substitution of a child, supposition of a child to a woman who will not give birth; exposing or abandoning in a solitary or non-solitary place; bringing in for profit one’s mediation in order to have a child taken in or adopted; procuring or transmitting or offering or disseminating or knowingly possessing or accessing an image or representation of a minor of a pornographic nature or of such a nature as to offend the dignity of the minor; compelling a minor to watch or participate in pornographic scenes or performances or to profit from them or to exploit a minor in any other way for this purpose; recruiting, by means of coercion, violence or deception, a minor to attend or participate in pornographic scenes or performances or to encourage the participation of a minor in such performances; attending pornographic performances involving the participation of minors; intentionally causing a minor to attend or participate in sexual activities; intentionally proposing, through the use of an electronic communications network, a meeting to a person, with the knowledge that he or she is a minor, with the aim of committing any sexual offence against him or her; producing, transporting, disseminating or trading in a message addressed to minors of a violent or pornographic nature or of a nature seriously prejudicial to human dignity; directly provoking a minor to transport, possess, offer or transfer narcotic drugs).
3°) Offences relating to domestic violence provided for in Chapter I of Title II of Book III of the Criminal Code (committed against a former or current spouse or partner in a common life contract, a cohabitant in a cohabitation contract or any other person living or having lived under the same roof, an ascendant or a descendant in the direct line).
— Cumulative conditions giving access to compensation:
1°) after having brought a civil action, to have benefited from a final decision of a Monegasque court awarding damages as compensation for the loss suffered as a result of one of the above-mentioned offences;
2°) not having succeeded in obtaining payment of the full amount of the damages and the sums awarded for the costs of the proceedings;
3°) having issued a summons to pay which proved unsuccessful.
— The application for compensation should be addressed to the Director of Judicial Services, with or without a lawyer:
• for adult applicants: within 2 years of the final decision of conviction (on pain of foreclosure which may be raised, at the discretion of the Director of Judicial Services).
• for applicants who are minors: within 2 years of reaching the age of majority (on pain of foreclosure, which may be raised, at the discretion of the Director of Judicial Services).
— The Director of Judicial Services should make a decision within 3 months of receipt of the application, which may be appealed to the Court of First Instance within 1 month of the date of notification of the decision.
— The compensation would be paid within 30 days of the notification of the decision of the Director of Judicial Services. It would be awarded:
• in full if the amount of the sentence is below the threshold set by Sovereign Order;
• according to a scale determined by sovereign order above this threshold.
— The Directorate of Judicial Services would be subrogated to the rights of the applicant in order to obtain reimbursement of the compensation from the convicted persons.