Defense in cases of crimes against public health and public morals
Many of the above-mentioned crimes fall into the category of serious crimes, therefore, a preventive measure associated with deprivation of liberty is often chosen for them, which complicates the defense in cases of crimes against public health and public morality. But, if you contact an experienced criminal lawyer at an early date, preferably at the stage of verification in accordance with Art. 144-145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, then your chances of the most effective defense increase significantly. In some cases, it is possible to convince the court that there is no need to apply such a strict preventive measure as detention, and in some cases it is possible to achieve refusal to initiate a case or termination of the case, but this is very serious work, the main factor here is time and early treatment, sometimes Lost time and opportunities may not be returned.
uristinfo.net
Page 1 of 3
Lecture 29. Crimes against public health and public morality
1. Concept and types of crimes against public health and public morality 2. Crimes against public health 3. Crimes against public morality
1. The concept and types of crimes against public health and public morality
The social danger of crimes against public health and public morality lies in the fact that their commission is associated with harm to the health of not an individual person, but many people (the health of the population, part of the population in a particular locality or in a particular region), as well as moral foundations of society. Crimes against public health and public morality are understood as socially dangerous acts provided for by criminal law, involving violation of rules ensuring public health and public morality, and causing them significant harm or creating a danger of causing it. The specific object of the crimes under consideration is public health and public morality. Being an independent social value, public health is protected by a set of measures of a political, economic, legal, medical and other nature. The goal of protecting public health in accordance with the Fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation “On protecting the health of citizens” dated July 22, 1993 is “preserving and strengthening the physical and mental health of every person, maintaining his long active life, providing him with medical care in case of loss of health.” Population health is a set of social relations that provide safe living conditions for many people. Public morality is a system of norms and rules of behavior, ideas, traditions, views about justice, duty, honor, dignity developed by people, which is dominant in society. From the objective side, most crimes against public health and public morality are committed through the following actions: illegal acquisition, storage, transportation, production, processing of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances (Article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), involvement in prostitution (Article 240 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and etc. Some of them, for example, violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules (Article 236 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), can be committed through both action and inaction. The elements of most crimes against public health and public morality are constructed as formal (for example, inducement to consume narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances (Article 230 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), illegal distribution of pornographic materials or objects (Article 242 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), etc.). Some of them have a material composition (illegal engagement in private medical practice or private pharmaceutical activities - Article 235 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). From the subjective side, the main part of the crimes under consideration are intentional. These, in particular, include theft or extortion of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances (Article 229 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation); concealment of information about circumstances that pose a danger to the life or health of people (Article 237 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), etc. Illegal engagement in private medical practice or private pharmaceutical activities (Article 235 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules (Article 236 of the Criminal Code RF) are committed due to negligence. The subject of this type of crime is a person who has reached 16 years of age. The subject of theft or extortion of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (Article 229 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) can be a person who has reached the age of 14 years. In most cases, the subjects of crimes can only be private individuals, and in some cases - persons endowed with special characteristics (Article 237 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Depending on the characteristics of the object of the criminal attack, all crimes against public health and public morality can be divided into two groups: 1) crimes against public health, which include crimes under Art. 228, 2281, 2282, 229-239 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation; 2) crimes against public morality, which include criminal acts provided for in Art. 240-245 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
1Last
On the implementation of public safety as a generic object of criminal legal protection in the legal norms of Chapter 25 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Crimes against public health and public morality”
Millerova Elena Alexandrovna,
Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Administrative Law and Criminal Law Disciplines of the Rostov State University of Transport.
Ensuring public safety in the field of public health and its moral component is one of the priority areas of modern Russian state policy. The basis for legal protection here is the Federal Law on Security.[1] This regulatory legal act, unfortunately, does not contain a definition of security, as was the case in the previous similar Law[2] (no longer in force), where the term “security” was defined as follows: “security is the state of protecting the vital interests of the individual, society and states from internal and external threats.”
Today, definitions of only some types of security are normatively enshrined. Thus, “transport security” is understood as the state of protection of transport infrastructure facilities and vehicles from acts of illegal interference;[3] by “environmental safety” - the state of protection of the natural environment and vital human interests from the possible negative impact of economic and other activities, emergency situations natural and man-made, their consequences;[4] under “security of fuel and energy complex facilities” - the state of protection of fuel and energy complex facilities from acts of illegal interference.[5]
It should be noted that the legal regulation also knows such a term as “national security”, which is understood as “the state of protection of the individual, society and state from internal and external threats, which allows us to ensure constitutional rights, freedoms, decent quality and standard of living of citizens , sovereignty, territorial integrity and sustainable development of the Russian Federation, defense and security of the state.”[6]
In the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the term “public security” is used as a generic and specific object of criminal legal protection. Thus, Section IX of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is called “Crimes against public safety and public order,” and Chapter 24 (included in this section) is “Crimes against public safety.”
V.S. Komissarov in one of his works fairly described public safety: “Public safety as a social phenomenon and as an object of criminal legal protection is complex and multifaceted in nature. It represents a certain set of social relations that regulate the safe living conditions of society. In this sense, public safety is not only one of the needs of society, but also a common good, a common value, in the preservation and development of which both the state, society, and citizens are interested. Ensuring public safety is a guarantee of creating in society such social conditions under which a person, his physical and spiritual benefits truly become the highest social value, and he himself can feel socially protected. The social function of public security is expressed in the fact that, reflected in social psychology and public consciousness, it is associated with a certain level of confidence of citizens in the protection of society and a particular citizen from socially dangerous attacks and the inviolability of basic social benefits. The greater the real efforts of society and the state to ensure a public security system, the more confident citizens feel in the process of entering into various social connections.”[7]
Public safety is also a generic object for crimes that encroach on public health and public morality, since Chapter IX also includes Chapter 25 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Crimes against public health and public morality.” Despite this, the term “security” is found only in the disposition of one article of this chapter (Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
In this regard, one may ask the question: How exactly is public safety implemented as a generic object of criminal law protection in the norms of Chapter 25 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provide for liability for crimes against public health and public morality? We believe that public safety was indeed rightly chosen by legislators as a generic object of criminal legal protection for Chapter 25 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, because, for example, drug trafficking, for which a significant part of the norms of this chapter is devoted to responsibility, with its growth can threaten not only the health of the population , but also the safety of our society as a whole, since drug addicts, as we know, cannot be full members of society, and therefore cannot be of benefit to it.
Analyzing public safety as a generic object of crimes included in Chapter 25 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, one cannot completely agree with legislators regarding the placement of norms in this chapter. So, for example, we believe that Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation would be more successfully placed not in Chapter 25 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, but in Chapter 24 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Crimes against public safety”, since it is in the disposition of this norm that the encroachment on “ security" of the population, in this regard, we believe that "public security" in relation to Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is more suitable as a specific, rather than generic, object of criminal law protection.
Literature
1. Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated December 28, 2010 No. 390-FZ “On Security” // IPP “Garant”.
2. Federal Law of the Russian Federation of March 15, 1992 No. 2446-1 “On Security” (lost force) // IPP “Garant”.
3. Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated 02/09/2007 No. 16-FZ (as amended on 02/03/2014) “On Transport Security” // IPP “Garant”.
4. Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated January 10, 2002 No. 7-FZ (as amended on March 12, 2014) “On Environmental Protection” // IPP “Garant”.
5. Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated July 21, 2011 No. 256-FZ (as amended on April 20, 2014) “On the safety of fuel and energy complex facilities” // IPP “Garant”.
6. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated May 12, 2009 No. 537 “On the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2022” (as amended on July 1, 2014) // IPP “Garant”.
7. Criminal law course. A special part. T.4. / Ed. G.N. Borzenkova, V.S. Komissarova. – M. Ed. “Mirror-M”, 2002. p.170-171.
Received by the editor on September 22, 2014.
