Concept and types of crimes. Who is this criminal? Criminal in criminal procedural law Signs of the objective side

In the world there are two types of definition of what is a crime: formal and material.

In many foreign countries A formal definition of a crime has been adopted, according to which an act provided for in the criminal code of the relevant country is considered a crime. But in this case, it is not clear on what basis certain acts are classified as criminal, and nothing prevents the legislator from establishing, for example, the following rule: “Planting trees is punishable by three years in prison.” And most importantly, the definition does not allow us to distinguish a crime from a minor act, i.e. from an act that, due to its insignificance, cannot be punished to the fullest extent of criminal law. With a formal definition of a crime, you can, for example, imprison a person for stealing a loaf of bread, because formally it is still theft.

The material definition of a crime includes such signs that determine why a given act is a crime, first of all, this is an indication of the public danger and objects of encroachment. However, one cannot go to the other extreme, defining a crime solely through material characteristics, as was done in the Criminal Code of 1922, where an action or inaction dangerous to the workers’ and peasants’ legal order was recognized as a crime, i.e. In order to call a person a criminal, it is not even necessary to determine what cannot be violated. Thus, a judge in 1922, based on the worker-peasant legal consciousness, could declare a crime any act that for some reason seemed dangerous to the Soviet state.

So, an act can be called a crime if it is socially dangerous, illegal, guilty and punishable.

Public danger, in other words, the harmfulness of an act is expressed in causing damage to any interests protected by criminal law. Let's say that theft damages property relations accepted in society, and therefore it is antisocial. An act that, although formally falls under some element of a crime, does not have the attribute public danger, is not a crime. For example, someone, protecting a group of children from an attack by a murderous maniac, will inflict on him injuries. Formally, his act is subject to punishment, since it is provided for by the Criminal Code. But it is not socially dangerous, but, on the contrary, useful; This means there can be no talk of a crime.

What determines public danger?

Firstly, the magnitude of the damage. The theft of two cars is more dangerous than the theft of one. Secondly, the method of committing the crime: with or without violence, by a group of people or individually, with or without weapons. Thirdly, motives, incentives to commit a crime. Acts committed out of self-interest, revenge, or the desire to hide another crime will always be more severely punished. Fourthly, the time and situation in which the acts were committed. A situation of public disaster, state of emergency, wartime, combat situation significantly aggravate the degree of the same acts committed in Peaceful time, in a normal environment.

Crime - criminally unlawful act. This means that the act must be provided for in criminal law, in otherwise, no matter how socially dangerous a person’s act may be, it will in no case be considered a crime. For example, the act of a man leaving his wife and infant child without a means of support is certainly immoral and antisocial, but it is not provided for by the Criminal Code and, therefore, is not considered a crime. In criminal law, the use of analogy is unacceptable. Thus, a judge, when considering a case of penetration into a computer network and theft of information from a data bank, cannot apply the rules on theft, although they generally regulate a similar situation. Of course, the theft of information is socially dangerous, but since it is not provided for by the Criminal Code, it is not a crime.

Crime - guilty act. The person is subject to criminal liability and punishment for acts if they were realized by the subject of the crime and if he was able to regulate his behavior, i.e. if consciousness and will were manifested in the committed acts. These two factors find external expression in the category of guilt, which is the mental attitude of a person in the form of intent or negligence to the act committed and its consequences, provided for by the Criminal Code, expressing a negative attitude towards the interests of the individual and society.

A crime committed intentionally is an act committed with direct or indirect intent.

A crime committed through negligence is an act committed through frivolity or negligence.

Direct intent is a situation where a person was aware of the social danger of his actions (inaction), foresaw and desired the criminal consequences of his act. This happens, for example, when a person, in the heat of a quarrel, is ready to kill his enemy and deliberately stabs him with a knife in the most vulnerable places: the stomach, the chest, realizing that this can cause death.
Indirect intent is a situation when a person realizes the social danger of his actions (inaction), foresees the consequences and deliberately allows them to occur, i.e. their attack is indifferent to him. In other words, criminal consequences are not the purpose of the crime, but a by-product - the price that a person is willing to pay to achieve other goals. This happens when, in the process of attacking a collector, a criminal shoots back and kills bystanders.
Frivolity is a situation where a person foresaw the possibility of consequences, but frivolously, without sufficient grounds, counted on preventing them. This happens, for example, when a driver, realizing that it is dangerous, exceeds the speed limit in icy conditions and this leads to a traffic accident with casualties.
Negligence is a situation where a person did not foresee, but with the necessary care and forethought could and should have foreseen the onset of criminal consequences. Thus, R. was negligent in the performance of his official duties, as a result of which unauthorized persons entered the territory of the plant and stole methanol there. As a result, 19 people died. R. was convicted of negligence.

There are situations when a person did not realize and, due to the circumstances of the case, could not realize the social danger of his actions, should not and could not foresee the onset of consequences. This happens, for example, when a person, having bought a TV and turned it on, suddenly sees that spontaneous combustion has occurred, as a result of which the house burned down and people died. No matter how grave the consequences may be, if a person should not and could not have foreseen them, he is considered innocent and his act is not considered a crime.

Crime - punishable act. Some scientists believe that this is the other side of illegality, since if an act is provided for by the Criminal Code, then, naturally, some kind of punishment is provided for it.

Crime and misdemeanor. Situations arise when an act, due to its insignificance, although it is antisocial, is not socially dangerous. This happens, for example, in the case of the theft of a loaf of bread, a bottle of water, or a stick of butter. And if there is no public danger, then there is no crime.

A situation of insignificance must be distinguished from a case where the criminal, due to circumstances beyond his control, was unable to cause significant damage. For example, a pickpocket, taking out his wallet, finds mere pennies there. But his intent was to steal a significant amount! And in this case, he should not escape criminal liability.

Categories of crimes. Depending on the nature and degree of public danger, the acts provided for by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are divided into crimes light weight, crimes moderate severity, serious crimes and especially serious crimes. The nature and degree of social danger of an act, being assessed by the legislator, are expressed in the severity of the punishment provided for it. Therefore, ultimately, the criterion for typologizing crimes is the severity of punishment.

Crimes of minor gravity are recognized as intentional and careless acts, for the commission of which the maximum punishment provided for by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not exceed two years of imprisonment.

Crimes of medium gravity are considered intentional acts, for which the maximum penalty does not exceed five years of imprisonment, or careless acts, for which the maximum penalty is more than two years of imprisonment.

Serious crimes are intentional and careless acts, for which the maximum punishment does not exceed 10 years of imprisonment.

Especially serious crimes intentional acts are recognized, the commission of which is punishable by imprisonment for a term of over 10 years or a more severe punishment.

The concept of crime is a key, central category of criminal law. A correct understanding of crime is important not only for law enforcement and courts, but also citizens. Criminal behavior is a type of human behavior. It is noted that “human behavior is the most general and most obligatory sign of any crime.”

Criminal law formulates the concept of a crime, taking as a basis for its definition the indication that a crime is not just an act prohibited by law, but an action or inaction, which in its content is dangerous for the individual, the interests of society, and the state. Therefore, the most important sign of a crime criminal law considers not a formal sign - prohibition by law, but a material one - its social danger. The concept of a crime, which reveals its essence, and is not based only on its formal characteristics, is called the material concept of a crime. The material concept of crime is the leading principle of Russian criminal law.

The concept of crime is given in Art. 14 of the Criminal Code: “ It is recognized as a crime guilty of a socially dangerous act prohibited by this Code under threat of punishment.” Based on the legislative definition of the concept of crime, the science of criminal law establishes that any crime is characterized by a combination of mandatory features: social danger, criminal wrongfulness, guilt, punishability.

Public danger means that the act is harmful to the individual, society, or state. In other words, the social danger of an act is that it causes or creates a threat of causing certain harm public relations protected by law. Defining the tasks of the Criminal Code, the legislator in Art. 2 of the Criminal Code gave a list of objects, encroachments on which pose a public danger. Public danger varies in nature and degree. The nature of the public danger determines the qualitative uniqueness of the crime. The degree of public danger is a quantitative expression of the danger of an act.

Criminal wrongfulness consists in the prohibition of a crime by the relevant criminal law norm of the Special Part under the threat of application of punishment to the perpetrator. The criminal wrongfulness of an act is a legal expression of its social danger.

Guilt of the person. Guilt is the attitude of a person’s psyche to the socially dangerous act he commits and its consequences in the form of intent or negligence. It is important to understand that with all dangerous consequences, a person can be held criminally liable only if there is guilt in his actions. If the act was committed innocently, the person cannot be held criminally liable. Only a person who, due to his age and mental state, is capable of realizing the actual nature and social danger of his actions (inaction) or managing them can be found guilty. Therefore, the actions of minors, as well as socially dangerous actions of the insane, cannot be considered as a crime.

Persons who were in a state of insanity during the commission of a socially dangerous act are not subject to criminal liability. The court may impose compulsory medical measures on such persons.

The Criminal Code established diminished responsibility. According to Art. 22 of the Criminal Code, a sane person who, at the time of committing a crime due to a mental disorder, could not fully understand the actual nature and social danger of his actions (inaction) or control them, is subject to criminal liability. Such a mental disorder, which does not preclude sanity, is taken into account by the court when assigning punishment and can serve as a basis for imposing compulsory medical measures.

Punishment- necessary legal consequence crimes. Punishability is expressed in the threat, the possibility of applying punishment for acts provided for by criminal law. The punishment established by the Criminal Code is not always applicable. The law provides a number of grounds for exempting persons who have committed a crime from punishment. But even in these cases, the acts do not lose their criminal nature.

So, a crime is a socially dangerous, criminally unlawful, guilty and punishable act (action or inaction) committed by a person of sane (limited sane) and who has reached the age established by the Criminal Code.

Depending on the nature and degree of public danger, the Criminal Code in Art. 15 distinguishes four groups of crimes: crimes of minor gravity, crimes of medium gravity, serious crimes and especially serious crimes.

Crimes of minor gravity are recognized as intentional and careless acts, for the commission of which the maximum punishment provided for by the Criminal Code does not exceed two years of imprisonment.

Crimes of medium gravity are considered intentional and careless acts, for the commission of which the maximum punishment provided for by the Criminal Code does not exceed five years of imprisonment.

Serious crimes are intentional and careless acts, for the commission of which the maximum punishment provided for by the Criminal Code does not exceed ten years in prison.

Particularly serious crimes are intentional acts, for the commission of which the Criminal Code provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of over ten years or a more severe punishment.

Criminal statistics record cases where the same person or group has committed several crimes. In order to differentiate responsibility and punish such persons, the Criminal Code establishes responsibility for the repetition and accumulation of crimes.

Repeated crimes are the commission of two or more crimes provided for in one article or part of an article of the Criminal Code. The commission of two or more crimes provided for by different articles of the Criminal Code may be recognized as repeated in cases provided for by the relevant articles of the Special Part of the Criminal Code. If a person has been released from criminal liability for previously crime committed or the criminal record has been expunged or withdrawn, then the crime is not recognized as having been committed more than once.

A cumulative crime occurs when a person has committed two or more crimes, neither of which he has been convicted of. A single action (inaction) containing signs of crimes provided for by two or more articles of the Criminal Code is also recognized as a set of crimes.

Increased criminal liability and punishment are established by the Criminal Code for persons who have committed a crime and have a criminal record for a previously committed crime. The Criminal Code distinguishes between dangerous recidivism and especially dangerous recidivism.

The most pronounced form criminal behavior is the commission of a crime in a group. Complicity in a crime is considered to be intentional joint participation two or more persons committing intentional crime(Article 32 of the Criminal Code). The Criminal Code identifies the perpetrator, organizer, instigator, and accomplice as accomplices in a crime (Article 33 of the Criminal Code). The most dangerous form of group criminal behavior is considered to be the commission of a crime by a group by prior conspiracy, an organized group and a criminal community (criminal organization).

Crime is one of the types of offense. Its other types are: civil, administrative, labor offenses and disciplinary offenses. The difference between them lies in the degree of their social danger, which follows from Part 1 of Art. 14 of the Criminal Code.

In addition, part 2 of Art. 14 of the Criminal Code additionally highlights the sign of public danger with the following provision: “An action (inaction), although formally containing signs of any act provided for by this Code, but due to its insignificance does not pose a public danger, that is, does not cause harm or create threats of harm to an individual, society or state.” Consequently, only an act with a high degree of public danger can be recognized as a crime.

Crime is a social phenomenon. It consists of the totality of all crimes committed in a given region over a certain period of time. As a social phenomenon, crime is a relatively mass phenomenon, since it consists of a set of acts committed by a certain, relatively mass part of society.

The historical conditionality and variability of crime is associated with a constantly changing range of acts recognized as crimes in successive socio-economic formations. Crime is a phenomenon of a criminal legal nature. This is a set of acts provided for by the Criminal Code, i.e. at the time of commission of acts recognized as crimes.

The totality of objective and subjective signs, characterizing a certain socially dangerous act as a crime, is called the corpus delicti. Specific crime and its composition relate to each other as a phenomenon and a concept about it. Crime is a definite phenomenon of reality, which has many individual characteristics. The corpus delicti is the totality provided by law only the most significant and typical features necessary to recognize a certain socially dangerous act as a crime. The corpus delicti is the legal concept of the crime.

All signs of a crime characterize the main elements of the crime: the object, the objective side, the subject and the subjective side of the crime. According to the degree of public danger, crimes can be classified into four types: simple, without aggravating and mitigating circumstances specified in the Criminal Code (for example, Part 1 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code), elements of a crime with aggravating circumstances (for example, Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code), elements of a crime with mitigating circumstances (for example, Articles 107, 108 of the Criminal Code), composition with especially aggravating circumstances (part 3 of article 213 of the Criminal Code). This classification of crimes according to the degree of public danger is important when qualifying a crime and imposing a punishment commensurate with the gravity of the act committed.

Criminal liability occurs only for an action or inaction of a person containing elements of a crime, and not for a crime as such.

In Art. 8 of the Criminal Code establishes that the basis for criminal liability is the commission of an act containing all the elements of a crime provided for by this Code. Criminal liability is an element of the criminal legal relationship that is generated legal fact in the form of action or inaction. Criminal liability presupposes the right and obligation of the state, represented by its law enforcement agencies, to apply to the person who committed a crime the norm of the Criminal Code in accordance with its content and meaning, and for the person who committed the crime - to bear responsibility and punishment for what he did and the right to be punished on the basis and within the limits of precisely the norm of the Criminal Code that he violated.

Only a sane individual who has reached the age established by this Code is subject to criminal liability. Thus, a person subject to criminal liability must be an individual, sane, and has reached the age specified by the Code (Article 19 of the Criminal Code).

A person who has reached the age of sixteen at the time of committing a crime is subject to criminal liability. For individual, especially serious crimes (there were twenty such crimes on the day the Criminal Code was adopted), criminal liability begins from the age of fourteen (Part 2 of Article 20).

The Criminal Code defines a minor as a person who was fourteen years old at the time the crime was committed, but not eighteen years old. A minor is not subject to criminal liability if, due to mental retardation not related to mental disorder, during the commission of a socially dangerous act, he could not fully understand the actual nature and social danger of his actions (inaction) or manage them (Part 3 of Article 20 of the Criminal Code).

Criminal liability involves the application of punishment to the perpetrator, with the exception of cases of exemption from punishment provided for by the Criminal Code. Minors who have committed crimes may be sentenced or forced educational measures may be applied to them. IN the latter case he is also exempt from criminal liability. The conditions for such release are the commission of a crime of minor or moderate gravity for the first time and recognition of the possibility of its correction through the use of coercive measures educational influence.

Criminal liability ceases if the criminal legal relationship is eliminated. The conditions for eliminating a criminal legal relationship are: serving a sentence, release from criminal liability, expungement or expungement of a criminal record.

Life testifies to cases when an act, outwardly similar to a crime, in a specific situation has a different content, and therefore is socially useful. For these reasons, it is not recognized as a crime. In relation to this type of situation, we can talk about circumstances that exclude the criminality of the act. The Criminal Code includes six such circumstances:

Necessary defense(Article 37 of the Criminal Code),

Causing harm during the detention of a person who has committed a crime (Article 38 of the Criminal Code),

Urgent necessity(Article 39 of the Criminal Code),

Physical or mental coercion (Article 40 of the Criminal Code),

Justified risk (Article 41 of the Criminal Code),

Execution of an order or instruction (Article 42 of the Criminal Code).

In the world there are two types of definition of what is a crime: formal and material.

In many foreign countries a formal definition of a crime has been adopted, according to which a crime is considered to be one provided for in the criminal code of the relevant country. But in this case, it is not clear on what basis certain acts are classified as criminal, and nothing prevents the legislator from establishing, for example, the following rule: “Planting trees is punishable by three years in prison.” And most importantly, the definition does not allow us to distinguish a crime from a minor act, that is, from an act that, due to its insignificance, cannot be punished to the fullest extent of criminal law. With a formal definition of a crime, you can, for example, put a person in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, because formally it is still theft.

The material definition of a crime includes such signs that determine why a given act is a crime, first of all, this is an indication of the public danger and objects of encroachment. However, one cannot go to the other extreme, defining a crime solely through material characteristics, as was done in the Criminal Code of the RSFSR of 1922, where an action or inaction dangerous to the worker-peasant legal order was recognized as a crime, i.e. in order to name a person criminal, it is not even necessary to determine what cannot be violated. Thus, a judge in 1922, based on the worker-peasant legal consciousness, could declare a crime any act that, for some reason, seemed dangerous to the Soviet state.

It seems that only a combination of these two approaches will give the desired result.

Signs of a crime

There are several of them.

minor crimes;
crimes of moderate gravity;
serious crimes;
especially serious crimes.

Minor crimes(Article 15 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) recognized intentional and careless acts, for the commission of which the maximum punishment does not exceed two years of imprisonment.

Crimes moderate severity intentional acts are recognized, for the commission of which the maximum punishment does not exceed five years of imprisonment (for example, violation of the rules for accounting, storage, transportation and use of explosives, flammable substances and pyrotechnic products - Article 218 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), and careless acts, for the commission of which the maximum the punishment exceeds two years of imprisonment.

Heavy Crimes are recognized as intentional acts for which the maximum punishment does not exceed ten years in prison (for example, bringing a knowingly innocent person to criminal liability, combined with accusing a person of committing a serious or especially serious crime - Article 299 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Particularly serious crimes are considered intentional acts, the commission of which is punishable by imprisonment for a term of over ten years or a more severe punishment (for example, an attempt on the life of a person administering justice or preliminary investigation, - art. 295 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). A more severe punishment may be life imprisonment freedom or the death penalty.

A crime is a criminal act dangerous to society, in which social danger and harm are manifested in damage to the interests of citizens who are subject to legislative protection in accordance with the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. For example, when stealing, violations property rights citizens, therefore theft is antisocial. In this case, an act that, even if there is corpus delicti, does not have signs of social danger, is not classified as a crime. Thus, a citizen, when protecting children from a murderer, causes him physical harm and damage. From a formal point of view, there are signs of a crime, but there is no fact of social danger in such an act.

Limits of public danger

The scope of danger to society is determined by:

the amount of damage caused;
method of carrying out a criminal act: with or without the use of violence, the use of weapons, committed individually or by a group of citizens;
intent and motive, incentives to commit a criminal act;
time and circumstances of the crime.

A crime is a criminally unlawful act, that is, a criminal act must be prescribed in criminal law.

Otherwise, regardless of the degree of danger of the citizen’s act, such an act will not be classified as a crime. Please note that criminal law does not allow the use of analogy. For example, when considering a case of intrusion into a computer network and theft of data, a judge cannot use the provisions of the law on theft or theft, although they are similar situations.

A crime is a guilty act, that is, the offender is subject to criminal liability and punishment for actions that the subject at the time of commission was fully aware of and had the opportunity to control his behavior. This means that the will and consciousness must be manifested in the committed act. These two circumstances are reflected in the concept of guilt, which, in accordance with the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, is the mental attitude of the criminal in the form of intent or negligence to a specific act and its results.

A criminal act can be committed with direct intent or through negligence:
in the first case, the offender was aware of the actions being performed, their negative consequences and desired their occurrence;

negligence presupposes the absence of prior intent or motive, but the commission of a criminal act due to prevailing circumstances.

Types and categories of crimes criminal acts are defined in general clauses of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. A crime as an illegal and illegal, guilty act of a capable citizen, presupposes the presence of criminal penalties and punishment depending on the severity of the act and the qualifying elements.

Signs of a criminal act:

Social danger lies in the fact that a criminal act in any situation encroaches on important social rights and values that are prescribed in the criminal code as objects criminal defense. The law implies two parameters of social danger: characteristics of social danger and its degree.
Illegality presupposes that an act can be qualified as a crime in a situation where this is provided for and prescribed in legislative act in the form of a prohibition on a specific action or inaction. That is, illegality means that certain actions are prohibited under threat of punishment.
The concept of guilt assumes that a socially dangerous act can be classified as a crime only when it was carried out by the criminal consciously. Only a citizen who, by age and psychological state, can prove and control his actions and behavior is guilty. It is for this reason that acts committed by minor children and insane citizens are not recognized as crimes.
An unlawful act acts as an act of behavior of a citizen, which can be expressed in the form of action or lack of action. Action should be understood as a person’s conscious and active behavior, which manifests itself in body movements, words, and the use of objects and weapons. In case of inaction, the passive behavior of a person is observed who does not perform the functions assigned to him to act in a certain way to avoid negative consequences.
By punishability it should be understood that for all committed socially dangerous acts prohibited by criminal law, criminal liability must be awarded in the form of strict and harsh deprivations and punishments.

A minor act is not considered a criminal act if the following conditions are met:

it should not have signs of any criminal offense prescribed in the articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
there is no social danger in it as a mandatory attribute of crime.

Minor acts are not recognized as crimes only in a situation where their insignificance was both objective and subjective. This means that the person wanted to carry out an insignificant act, and not because due to a number of circumstances it happened.

Severity

Such a property as social danger is a characteristic feature of all crimes. However, such acts should be distinguished by the composition and degree of damage caused.

Based on the characteristics and level of social danger, the form of guilt, all criminal acts can be divided into the following categories:

not heavy;
moderate;
heavy;
especially severe.

In accordance with Art. 15 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, acts with a low degree of gravity are intentional and deliberate unlawful acts, for the implementation of which punishment is provided in the form of maximum term up to 2 years.

Moderate severity includes acts committed intentionally. For them, the maximum penalty under criminal law is 5 years in prison. For crimes of this severity through negligence, up to 2 years of imprisonment are provided.

The grave category includes actions for which a maximum prison sentence of up to 10 years is applied (for example, bringing an innocent person to criminal punishment, combined with accusing a person of committing a serious or especially serious criminal act in accordance with Article 299 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The category of especially serious criminal acts includes acts for which the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for a penalty in the form of a prison term of more than 10 years and a more severe penalty (this category includes an encroachment on the life of a person who carries out preliminary investigative measures or administers justice - Art. 295 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The most severe punishment for such a crime would be life imprisonment or the death penalty.