The concept, elements and attributes of a crime. Characteristics of elements of a crime

As the theory of criminal law says, for each wrongful act, the mandatory elements and signs of the offense that form them are characteristic. In the properties of criminally punishable acts, the features contained in the dispositions of legislative norms are reflected. It is they who help to classify wrongful acts, thus forming the crime. Its presence is the basis for the guilty person to incur criminal liability.

In this article, all the elements and features of the corpus delicti are examined in detail, the concept and correlation between them, classification according to various criteria.

General ideas about the crime and the composition of the crime

The concept of "corpus delicti" (SP) includes a set of characteristics (objective and subjective nature) that characterize a particular act as a crime. In relation to each other, the terms "crime" and "corpus delicti" act as a concrete phenomenon and legal concept about this phenomenon.

Crime is a concrete act. It is socially dangerous and committed by a certain person in a specific time period in a certain place. And the composition of the crime is a concept. Elements, signs, characteristics of a particular unlawful act are contained in the statutory composition of the crime.

The term "crime" contains a description of the socio-political aspects of the wrongful act. They consist of encroachment on public relations under the protection of the law . And the term "composition of the crime" is characterized by a scientific generalization of the properties of specific crimes. That is, this concept includes the elements common to all and the elements of the crime. The ratio of the concepts of crime and corpus delicti can be regarded as the basis and its derivative.

The main approaches to the classification of the joint venture

The severity of the criminal offense is determined precisely by the elements and signs of the offense, their types. Types of crimes and the criteria for their classification, in turn, are based on the varying degrees of danger of the act, the method of describing the characteristics, the features of the description in the law of the objective side.

Criminal law provides that the joint venture is:

- basic, qualified and privileged (criterion - level of public danger) ;

- simple and complex (criterion - structure);

- formal and material, the composition of the danger (criterion - the legislative design).

Characteristics of different types of joint venture

Basically, there are elements and signs of the crime that do not affect (not increase or decrease) the degree to which a crime is socially dangerous. Qualified staff includes signs that increase the public danger of the act. In the privileged composition there are signs that reduce the public danger of the act.

Simple crimes are considered in the same plane. And in the case of complex compounds, several objects, several acts, etc. are meant. A variety of complex composition is an alternative JV, in which case several actions or consequences are implied, their presence is sufficient, provided that there are other mandatory characteristics to ensure that Responsibility has come.

The formal composition is indicated only by the act itself, and the material composition - and its consequence.

Lawyers are divided in opinion about the belonging of the truncated composition. Someone thinks that this is an independent species. Others, on the contrary, truncated joint venture are classified as a form of the formal. The end of a criminal act with a truncated composition can be considered an attempt or preparation.

The danger composition provides that the final moment is the commission of an illegal act, which, in turn, creates the risk of occurrence of the consequences indicated by the law.

From the foregoing, it follows that the elements and attributes of the corpus delicti, the concept and their types stem from the belonging of the crime to one of the species, which, in turn, affects the qualification of an unlawful act.

JV value

A specific JV refers to the totality of all the characteristics that are specified in a specific norm of the Criminal Code. They are necessary and sufficient to hold a person accountable for the commission of a certain crime.

The value of the composition is due to the fact that it is used as:

- the legal basis for criminal liability;

- the necessary condition for the qualification of a criminal act;

- the grounds that the court enjoys in the process of work on the selection of certain criminal law measures;

- guarantees of compliance with the law.

Elements of the crime are the criteria that make up the model of crime and prove its public danger.

That is, if there is a composition of the wrongful act, there is a corresponding criminal responsibility for its commission. A joint venture is an indispensable tool by which criminal acts are distinguished from non-criminal ones. The composition of a crime is a concept, elements, its characteristics allow us to determine the category of gravity of the committed act and determine the limits of the punishability of this wrongful act.

In the absence of a joint venture, it is concluded that the act (omission) does not contain signs of unlawful or its composition, as provided for by criminal law.

Elements of corpus delicti. Characteristics of the object and the objective side

The elements of the JV are understood to mean all the necessary parts of the constructive structure of an unlawful act that correspond to different parties that affect the definition of the public danger of an act provided for by criminal law. The content of these components of a wrongful act distinguishes crimes from each other, for example, an attempt to kill from theft or libel from insult.

Elements of corpus delicti are:

- the object;

- an objective party;

- the subjective party;

- the subject.

The object of the crime is understood as social relations protected by criminal law, which the guilty person infringed upon. The main feature of the object is, first of all, the subject of crime, represented in the form of a real thing of the material world, through which the person destabilizes public relations. In particular, in the case of theft, property relations are used as the object of the crime, and the object is an illegally seized thing.

Actually, public relations are a reflection of the actual relationship between individuals, legal entities and the state on the implementation of their interests and rights, the performance of duties, powers and tasks.

The objective side refers to the features of external manifestations of behavioral deviations that constitute a public danger of a person's behavior, which can harm relations protected by criminal law. Specific elements of the crime are more precise signs of the objective side. This is a socially dangerous act, consisting in action or inaction, a socially dangerous consequence, a causal connection between the crime and the consequence, as well as the time, place, situation, method, tools and means of committing the crime.

Classification of objects

Such elements of the corpus delicti as objects differ among themselves on several grounds, thus forming a vertical and horizontal hierarchy.

The object can be general, species, generic and direct. This division is considered vertical.

The general object is represented by the totality of all public relations protected by criminal law. Specification is carried out by further analysis and determination of the species, generic and immediate object.

A generic object means a combination of social relations that have a homogeneous connection and are protected by criminal law.

Species object of the joint venture is considered to be a narrower group of social relations, values and interests of one kind. Such an object is endowed with an intermediate value between generic and immediate objects.

The immediate object of the corpus delicti, unlike the previous kinds of objects, is a concrete kind of social relations, this or that benefit, interest. It is against him in the course of an offense is directly carried out criminal assault.

Objects are elements of a crime that, according to the horizontal classification, can be of three types: basic, optional and additional. The application of this division is relevant, for example, when several objects are attacked at once. So, in the case of theft committed with penetration into a dwelling, the right to property is the main object, and as additional - to the inviolability of the home.

An optional object is a relationship that, when committed in a particular crime, is harmed in some cases, but in others it is not inflicted. For example, hooliganism always violates public order, which is the main object, and in the event of damage to health, property or personal dignity, this violation does not always happen, but depending on the specific type of crime, that is, it is an optional feature.

Characteristics of elements of the corpus delicti: subject, subjective side

Speaking of the subjective side of the wrongful act, we mean the person's mental activity, directly related to the commission of the atrocity. Signs of this element of the joint venture are in the wine, motive and purpose. The forms of guilt can vary depending on the motivational side of the act committed, whether as guilt or intent, or as imprudence.

The subject is an individual who committed or committed a criminal act and is capable of incurring corresponding criminal responsibility for him. In the Russian criminal law, unlike many countries, the recognition as a subject of a crime of a legal entity is excluded. The subject of a crime is a person who is acknowledged sane and has reached the age specified in the law. There are some cases when, according to the Criminal Code, the subject may be endowed with other additional signs.

General ideas about the characteristics of the joint venture

Signs of the JV are certain legal properties of the act, the presence of which acts as an obligatory condition for the recognition of the action (inaction) as criminal.

All the properties of the offense should:

• To be combined among themselves, in their totality defining social danger and wrongfulness;
• To serve as the basis for delimiting a particular crime from other similar offenses;
• Be fixed by law and directly spelled out in the rule of law.

The elements and features of the corpus delicti, in their totality, impose a criminally punishable act on specific characteristics. If the elements reflect the structural construction of a crime, the characteristics are inherently generalized, legally significant properties (features, characteristics, qualities) of a wrongful act of a certain kind.

Classification of characteristics of the joint venture

According to the classification, the signs of a joint venture are:

- objective and subjective;

- mandatory and optional.

Based on the name, it is easy to understand that the attributes that refer to the object are called objective. And with the help of subjective characteristics, subjects are characterized.

As already noted, the elements and attributes of the corpus delicti, types of signs are the criteria for the recognition of the act as unlawful. But the role of mandatory and optional signs in this process is somewhat different.

Obligatory (basic) characteristics of the joint venture are characterized by all the compositions without exception, that is, they are present in each of them. If they are absent in the analyzed act, then this is the basis for making a decision on the absence of a criminal nature of actions. Mandatory signs include the most important criteria that determine the nature of the wrongful act. It is about social relations (interests, benefits), the form of an illegal act (act or omission), fault (intent or negligence), the age at which criminal responsibility is characterized (usually 16 years), sanity.

A number of other features are called additional (optional). These are:

• The subject of a criminal act;
• Socially dangerous consequence;
• The nature of the relationship (cause and effect) between the criminal offense and its consequences;
• The time of the commission, the surrounding situation, the place, the concrete method, the weapon and the list of the means used in the commission of the crime, the totality of the motives and purposes,
• Complex of special signs of the crime subject.
  

Elements and signs of the corpus delicti, including optional, are very important in the criminal process both for identifying the criminal act and for imposing punishment.

Characteristics of facultative characteristics of the joint venture:

1. They are in certain situations, which are prescribed by law, can be re-qualified as mandatory characteristics of the core JV.
2. They, in accordance with the law, may also be mandatory attributes related to a qualified or privileged JV.
3. If we are talking about an optional feature that is not included in the crime and does not affect the qualification of the crime, then it is considered an aggravating or mitigating circumstance.

There is a certain pattern that distinguishes the elements and signs of the corpus delicti. The mandatory and optional features of the offense should be clearly delineated. Thus, a special cruelty in the commission of a wrongful act can not be taken into account as an aggravating circumstance for a person accused of murder committed with particular cruelty. The fact is that in connection with the qualification of the crime the punishment for cruelty has already been increased. For comparison: in the case of murder, in which there are no aggravating circumstances, the punishment is in the form of imprisonment for a term of 6 to 15 years, and if they are present, from 8 to 20 years.

Thus, the optional features of elements of a crime, whether an object or a subject of a wrongful act, are of a threefold nature.

Constant and variable signs

Stability and immutability are another criterion for dividing the characteristics of a joint venture into two groups, depending on which character (variable or permanent) they are.

Permanent features include the characteristics of a criminal act that do not change during the entire period of the specific law of the Criminal Code and are not dependent on the circumstances of the committed unlawful act. Then the variable signs are the properties of a criminal offense that can be transformed, regardless of the appearance of changes in the text of the relevant article and other points. Among the variables of the characteristics are distinguished blanket or estimated.

Constant features are characterized by stability both temporally and spatially, that is, they carry the same semantic load throughout the territory of the law. In the course of the proceedings, you can not ignore these properties.

Thus, the elements and signs of the offense, their types allow us to reconstruct the full picture of the commission of an illegal act, which is necessary for the final qualification of the crime.