I recently took a criminal law exam. I came across a question related to a rather complex and important concept: types of sanctions in criminal law. I failed the test because during the session I missed a lecture on the topic of disposition and sanctions in criminal law. When I fully understood this question, I realized how important it is to know the answer to it. In this note, I decided to share my new knowledge with you, I’ll tell you:
- What does disposition represent and where is it present in the provisions of criminal and civil law?
- What are sanctions in modern UP?
- What is the difference between dispositions and legal sanctions?
- What types of legal sanctions and categories of dispositions exist?
Structure of the norm
Legal theory states that any legal norm consists of three parts: hypothesis, disposition and sanctions. The first part is just a guess. It is built on the basis of a specific situation or event. A disposition is a rule of behavior for a subject in a given situation. If a person violates the rules, sanctions are applied to him - penalties that may have a certain size and type.
Russian criminal law is characterized by a dual structure of the norm, with none of the three elements being lost. How is this possible? Everything depends on the type of disposition and sanctions in criminal law, which constitute the norm. The first, which is also the general part of the criminal norm, may contain a disposition and a hypothesis. The sanction itself is more of a nature for the second, special part of the norm. Before considering the application of criminal law in practice, it is necessary to consider each element of the law separately.
What is meant by the term “sanctions”
The word “sanctions” can be translated from Latin as “decree”. A sanction is one of the components of a legal norm that is applied to a person who has violated a rule. These measures are punitive in nature. From a legal point of view, they are considered as a certain kind of punishment that is applied to a person who has violated law and order.
Sanctions must be based on a legally sound mechanism. Otherwise, they themselves will become illegal and violate human rights. The party that applied this method of influence must give a detailed report on what legal act the sanctions were imposed on the violator, their duration and type. If this information is missing, the injured party has the right to sue their accuser and receive appropriate compensation.
If the violator is not aware of the mechanism of sanctions, this will not relieve him of responsibility. The impact must be legal and proportionate to the offense committed.
Concept of hypothesis
What is the hypothesis and how does it relate to the types of sanctions in criminal law? As already stated, a hypothesis is just a guess. Lawyers talk about it as a statement that requires evidence. These can be specific life circumstances, events, acts of people or a set of acts, etc. According to a number of legal experts, the hypothesis is completely absent from the norms of criminal law. In the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, for example, there is only one article that contains an indication of the condition under which the norm begins to apply. This is Article 331, which deals with crimes in military service. Scientists believe that this is the only provision of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in which there is a hypothesis, but there is no disposition and sanction.
It is also worth highlighting Article 20 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which talks about the age of criminal responsibility. The concept of delinquency is introduced, which is the basis for the hypothesis.
Thus, the existence of a hypothesis in the field of violations of the law is a controversial issue. However, it makes no sense to deny the fact of its influence on the types of sanctions in criminal law.
The concept of disposition
The disposition, unlike the hypothesis, in the field of criminal law, no one denies. This element is basic for all articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. This is the core that allows you to reveal the signs of a crime. It is the disposition that contains the features of a criminal act in respect of which certain types of sanctions should be applied.
In criminal law, a disposition is a rule of conduct, and therefore a priori has an illegal nature. Here, for example, is a quote from the Code: “Murder is the intentional causing of death to a person.” Murder is a form of behavior, a disposition. She demands punishment. We can draw a simple conclusion: all the dispositions prescribed in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are of a criminal nature, and therefore their commission is unacceptable.
Types of dispositions
Disposition is the most important element in the criminal sphere of the Russian Federation. The most common form of disposition is called simple. It names the act, but does not contain its characteristics or definition. Examples are kidnapping, vehicle theft, etc.
The second type of disposition is descriptive. As is already clear from the name, it contains a description. For example, an article about murder talks about what exactly should be considered this crime (causing death). A similar disposition is called a reference disposition, since it contains references to other provisions of the Criminal Code.
The last type of the considered element of the norm is called blanket. It involves the widespread use of acts from other legal branches, for example, to establish a list of prohibited acts.
The type of disposition directly affects the types of sanctions in criminal law. Examples of such influence will be discussed below.
Disposition of the criminal law norm
Disposition is that part of the criminal law norm (article) that contains the definition of the criminal act provided for by it and its elements. The Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contains the following types of dispositions:
- simple (names a crime without disclosing its characteristics);
- descriptive (includes a number of signs, the presence of which together determines what was done as a crime);
- reference;
- blanket (does not contain specific signs of a crime, but refers to the norms of other branches of law);
- mixed (combined).
A simple disposition names a crime without revealing its characteristics. It is used in cases where the meaning of the crime is clear enough in general terms without its description, or, conversely, its description is complex and cumbersome.
Example
A simple disposition, for example, is given in Art. 211 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - hijacking a ship. What should be understood by the hijacking of a ship is not specified in this article due to its clarity.
As an example of a different kind, Art. 242 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which establishes liability for the illegal distribution of pornographic materials or objects. There is no single and clear opinion regarding the concept of “pornography”, as a result of which it is included in Art. 242 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has not been deciphered, despite the fact that in practice this causes great difficulties. But the concept of “prostitution den” is understandable, but requires a verbose description, and therefore it is not included in the disposition of Art. 241 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
More preferable is a descriptive disposition, which includes a number of signs, the presence of which together determines what was committed as a crime. Such a disposition, for example, is defined in Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, according to which hooliganism is “a gross violation of public order, expressing clear disrespect for society, accompanied by the use of violence against citizens or the threat of its use, as well as the destruction or damage of other people’s property.”
The blanket disposition does not contain specific signs of a crime, but refers to the norms of other branches of law - civil, administrative, labor, etc.
Example
Such dispositions dominate in the chapters of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provide for liability in the field of ecology (Chapter 26), economic activity (Chapter 22), traffic safety and transport operation (Chapter 27), etc. There are many such dispositions in the chapter establishing liability in the field of public safety in connection with violation of special rules (construction, mining, etc.), handling weapons, ammunition, radioactive substances, etc. Blanket, for example, is the disposition of Art. 218 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which establishes liability for violation of the rules for accounting, storage, transportation and use of explosive, flammable substances and pyrotechnic products.
A reference is a disposition that, in order to establish signs of a crime in the interests of eliminating repetitions, refers to another article or part of an article of the Criminal Code.
Example
So, in Art. 112 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which establishes liability for the intentional infliction of moderate harm to health, states that it is not dangerous to human life and does not entail the consequences specified in Art. 111 of the Criminal Code. In Part 2 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code provides for liability for intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm in the presence of circumstances qualifying this crime. At the same time, references are made to Part 1 of the same article, which defines the signs of serious harm to health.
In addition to those listed, there are mixed, or combined, dispositions containing signs of a reference or blanket disposition and, in addition, some other disposition. Art. is endowed with such a mixed disposition. 236 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, establishing liability for violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules (blanket part), which through negligence resulted in mass disease or poisoning of people (descriptive part).
Sanction concept
The main feature of punishment in Russian criminal law is its alternative nature. For example, punishment may take the form of a fine, forced or compulsory labor, arrest, disqualification, restriction of certain rights, etc. Thus, one disposition may have several types of sanctions at once.
The types of sanctions in Russian criminal law strongly depend on the form of the norm itself. As you know, there are four main criminal norms: these are instructions - mandatory norms, permissions, prohibitions and incentives. Most often in criminal law there are prohibitions.
Principles of criminal law
Chapter 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation reveals five principles of Russian criminal law. These include: legality, equality of citizens before the law, guilt, justice, humanism.
Legality
(Article 3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) involves bringing to criminal liability only for the commission of a socially dangerous act that is directly prohibited by criminal law. This provision follows from the content of Art. 54 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which states that “no one can be held responsible for an act that at the time of its commission was not recognized as an offense.” For example, it is impossible to apply criminal sanctions to persons involved in speculation or the purchase and sale of currency, since these acts are decriminalized, that is, removed from the list of criminal offenses.
An important component of the principle of legality is the absence of an analogy of law in Russian criminal law since 1958. The application of norms similar to those in the code, but not identical to them, is unacceptable.
Principle of equality
citizens before the law (Article 4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) - this is the inevitability of responsibility and the same approach to those responsible regardless of gender, race, nationality, language, origin, property and official status, place of residence, attitude to religion, beliefs, membership in public associations, as well as other circumstances. However, this does not exclude an individual approach when assigning punishment. Thus, punishments associated with involvement in labor, such as restriction of freedom and compulsory work, cannot be applied to disabled citizens - disabled people of the first and second groups, pregnant women, women with children under the age of eight, women who have reached the age of fifty-five, men who have reached the age of sixty. Life imprisonment cannot be applied to women, as well as persons who committed crimes under the age of eighteen and men who have reached the age of sixty-five at the time of sentencing.
Russian legislation establishes a special procedure for bringing senior state officials, deputies of legislative bodies, and judges to criminal liability. This provision was established to ensure the independence of government and the protection of these individuals from provocations and persecution of political opponents.
Principle of guilt
(Article 5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) means only the personal responsibility of the person who committed the crime. It cannot be transferred to other persons. In addition, in every crime it is necessary to establish the guilt of the offender. Criminal liability for innocent causing of harm (so-called objective imputation) is not permitted. Even the owner of a source of increased danger, for example, the driver of a car who innocently committed an accident with human casualties, can only incur civil liability, but not criminal liability.
Principle of justice
(Article 6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is expressed in accordance with the nature and degree of social danger of the crime, the circumstances of its commission and the identity of the perpetrator.
The nature of the crime is a qualitative characteristic of social danger, which is determined, first of all, by the value of the object of the attack and the consequences of the crime, the extent to which material, physical, moral or other harm is caused.
The degree of public danger - its quantitative side is determined by the amount of damage (significant, significant, large, especially large, etc.), the method of committing the crime, the form of guilt, the content of the motive and purpose of the crime.
The law obliges law enforcement agencies to take into account the personality of the perpetrator when passing a sentence: his characteristics, services to society, family and official status.
This principle also reproduces the constitutional provision that no one can be convicted twice for the same crime.
The principle of humanism
involves ensuring human safety. Punishment is not intended to cause physical suffering to the convicted person or to humiliate his human dignity. A striking manifestation of humanism in recent years is the abolition of the death penalty, as well as the presence in the criminal law of such institutions as pardon, parole, suspended sentence, etc.
Absolute types of sanctions
In the criminal law of the Russian Federation, unlike the legal system of the USSR, there are no absolute sanctions. Previously, they assumed a “tower” or the application of punishment “to the fullest extent of the law” - in other words, the worst and no alternative option for bearing responsibility. Until recently, in our country there were absolutely certain (AO) and absolutely indefinite (AN) sanctions, which could be applied only in the most extreme cases. AO sanctions established the only possible punishment, its exact size and form. There was no individualization of punishment in relation to the personal characteristics of the guilty person. The court could make only one decision: a large fine, the death penalty, life imprisonment, etc.
The AN sanctions contained wording that was not very precise or specific. For example, “punishment according to the laws of war,” “application of sanctions in emergency situations,” “punishment to the fullest extent of the law,” etc. It is not entirely clear who, in principle, these types of sanctions can be aimed at. Today they are banned for a very simple reason: to prevent judicial arbitrariness and violations of human rights and freedoms.
Tasks of criminal law. Criminal policy
The tasks of criminal law are defined in Part 1 of Art. 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Firstly, the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms, property, public order and public safety, the environment, the constitutional system of the Russian Federation from criminal attacks, secondly, ensuring the peace and security of mankind, and thirdly, crime prevention.
The priorities of objects of criminal legal protection are based on the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which reveals the content of the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens: to life, liberty and personal integrity; privacy; protection of one’s honor and good name, inviolability of one’s home, and so on. In order for these and other rights to be exercised, the Criminal Code proclaims their protection.
The current Constitution of the Russian Federation equalizes all types of property: private, state, municipal and others. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation also does not make any distinction in the protection of these types of property.
Public order as an object of criminal legal protection is a set of social relations that ensure public peace, uninterrupted operation of transport, enterprises, institutions and organizations, and personal integrity. Public security is the state of protecting the vital interests of society from internal and external threats.
The environment is an independent object of criminal law protection. In accordance with Art. 42 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, everyone has the right to a favorable environment, reliable information about its condition and to compensation for damage caused to his health or property by environmental violations.
The concept of the constitutional system as an object of criminal legal protection is contained in Chapter 1 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
The second task of criminal law is solved by introducing into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation Section XII “Crimes against the peace and security of mankind” and the chapter of the same name. It contains the most dangerous criminal acts, such as “Planning, preparing, unleashing or waging an aggressive war”, “Genocide”, “Mercenarism” and others. These crimes carry the most severe penalties.
Crime prevention, as the third of the tasks of criminal law listed in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, involves two aspects. The first is the general prevention of criminal law, that is, the prevention of the commission of crimes by citizens under the influence of a criminal law prohibition. Another aspect of criminal law protection is the private prevention of criminal law. It means preventing the commission of crimes by persons who have previously committed crimes. Private prevention also means identifying persons who can be expected to commit crimes. Preventive work consists of exerting educational and other measures of influence on them, as well as on those around them. A typical example of a private warning is the provision of assistance in employment and everyday life to a specific person released from prison.
Criminal law is designed to implement a certain set of basic ideas and provisions on strategic directions, ways and means of combating crime, which constitute the criminal policy of the state. The ultimate goal of criminal policy is to ensure maximum control over crime through various methods. To achieve this, law enforcement agencies are assigned current priority tasks, laws and regulations are improved, the law enforcement and judicial systems are reformed in order to optimize the activities, etc.
Russian criminal policy is designed to solve the problems of fighting crime based on the socio-economic situation of the country. A manifestation of criminal policy is the abolition, amendment and adoption of new regulations in the field of combating crime. To date, in addition to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the Criminal Executive Code of the Russian Federation and the Federal Law “On the Fight against Terrorism” have been put into effect. Drafts of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, a number of laws aimed at combating organized crime and corruption have been prepared. Doctrines, concepts and programs to combat crime and its individual types are periodically adopted.
Relatively specific types of sanctions
Today, the Russian Criminal Code is dominated by sanctions of a relatively specific nature. Their main feature is the establishment of limits in punishment. This is how they differ from absolute ones: the presence of alternative types of responsibility.
The limits of punishment can be minimum and maximum. Everything will depend on the aggravating and mitigating circumstances that should be considered when analyzing the criminal act. The judge making a decision on a particular disposition has some freedom in establishing the punishment. However, he does not have the right to go beyond the established limits of criminal law.
There are a lot of types of sanctions with examples - it’s worth citing the entire special part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. They all belong to a relatively specific group. Thus, Article 151 talks about the involvement of minors in committing acts of an antisocial nature. The minimum punishment here will be arrest for up to 3 months, the maximum - imprisonment for up to 4 years.
There are no relatively indefinite sanctions in criminal law. By their nature, they are similar to absolutely vague norms, and therefore could lead to arbitrariness and violation of rights.
Alternative and cumulative sanctions
It is necessary to analyze the latest typology and classification of types of sanctions in criminal law. The first group is called alternative. Everything is simple here: for one criminal act you can apply one of several punishment options.
The court is able to choose the type of punishment, based on the type of personality of the criminal, his behavior, the method of breaking the law, etc. The question arises: how do alternative sanctions differ from relative ones, where there are also several options for punishment? Not every lawyer is able to answer this question. Most likely, there are limits in the relative group of sanctions that are absent in the group of alternatives. For example, the formulations “from two to four years” and “two or four years” differ significantly from each other. In the first case, the court has greater freedom of choice.
The second group of sanctions is called cumulative. There are two punishment options here: primary and additional. Additions to the main sanction may be applied for insulting a judge, violent behavior and other aggravating circumstances.
Criminal law through time
Having examined the concept and types of sanctions in criminal law, we should move on to a brief description of the norm itself. According to the law, the effect of any law is limited to a certain time frame. Thus, in law there is the concept of a statute of limitations. It does not affect the form of sanctions, but can completely eliminate the initiated case of committing a criminal act.
The question of when the crime was committed is also controversial. There are several points of view on this matter:
- a crime occurs from the moment socially dangerous consequences arise;
- the moment of commission of a criminal act is the direct implementation of an illegal action or inaction;
- If the perpetrator, having committed a crime, has the opportunity to correct everything, the beginning of the illegal act is considered to be either the moment of the onset of the consequences or the moment of commission of the illegal act.
Crimes are ongoing and ongoing. The first are characterized by a long-term failure of a person to fulfill his duties, and the second - by a number of identical acts.
Criminal law in space
In modern criminal law, the operation of the law is determined by territorial, civil, real and universal principles. The territorial principle depends on the area where the crime was committed: be it land, water or airspace. The state principle is a little more complex. An illegal act can be committed on the territory of one’s own state or abroad. In the first case, the person will be convicted according to national law, and in the second, according to international provisions.
The universal principle is characterized by the complication of national law with international elements. The real principle involves protecting the interests of the state and citizens from attacks by foreign entities.
Reasons for application
Sanctions can only be imposed on a person, organization or country in accordance with lawful grounds. It could be:
- court decision (for criminal and administrative sanctions);
- order of the manager (regarding labor sanctions);
- claim of the defrauded party to the contract (property);
- decision of the international community (economic and political).
If punishment is applied without legal justification, the action will be considered illegal.
