Romanian Senate head initiates bill imposing harsher penalties for child abusers

The president of Romania’s National Liberal Party (PNL) and speaker of the Senate, Nicolae Ciucă, announced that he initiated a bill imposing harsher penalities for child abusers.

The bill makes it so those guilty of endangering the life or integrity of a minor can be sentenced to 5-10 years in prison, compared to the current legislation's 3-7 years.

"Child abusers will receive harsher penalties for their actions. For endangering the life or integrity of a minor, the sentence will be 5-10 years in prison, compared to the current legislation's 3-7 years. Through this increase, we aimed to eliminate the suspension of the sentence, allowed by the judicial system if the sentence is a maximum of 3 years," wrote the PNL president in a Facebook post.

Ciucă said that he thought of parents who are drug users when he wrote the bill. According to him, in this case, the sentence increases to 7-12 years in prison, as the drugs constitute an aggravating circumstance.

According to Ciucă, "the increase in these penalties improves the protection of the little ones, who can only grow up beautifully in a safe, violence-free environment. I am convinced that by protecting the harmonious development of children, we are investing in Romania's future."

Back in 2021, Save the Children Romania pointed out that one in two Romanian children is subjected to some form of abuse.

(Photo source: Save the Children Romania)