The state, like society, strives for harmonious development, which occurs gradually due to many factors. One of them is the work sphere. If a citizen does not fulfill the obligations prescribed in his contract for any unjustifiable reason, this can be called negligence.
It can negatively affect the work process, the development of society and the country as a whole, and even become a threat to human life. Therefore, criminal punishment is provided for it. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for negligence in Article 293.
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Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Negligence”
Definition of negligence
Each profession and position has its own responsibilities, instructions, rules of implementation, prescribed in the contract.
If you neglect them, unpleasant consequences are possible. Sometimes employees feel that performing any of the functions specified in the agreement is not at all necessary. But neglecting them can lead to trouble. Perhaps similar incidents have already occurred.
Important! All technical safety rules are based on actual accidents. Therefore, they should never be neglected!
In Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides a definition of negligence. This is neglect of one's official duties. Such an attitude is fraught with public censure and criminal liability.
Kinds
There are different types of negligence:
- light weight without causing harm to people. Punishable mainly through material punishment;
- moderate severity, as a result of which 1 person died. Punishable, among other things, by imprisonment for 5 years;
- of moderate severity, in which a group of people suffered, is punishable, among other things, by imprisonment for 7 years.
Types
Types are divided by professional areas:
- In the medical field, negligence is most common. Doctors should be especially careful as they prescribe treatment. If it was prescribed incorrectly or certain manipulations were carried out incorrectly, severe harm to health or even death may occur;
- in the law enforcement field. Most often, negligence refers to preventive measures that were performed poorly, causing harm to property and human health;
- in the social sphere, since social workers have increased responsibility to people who cannot cope without outside help. Their inaction or poorly performed work can lead to serious illness of their wards or even death;
- In the field of hazardous production, special responsibility lies with management, whose decisions affect the uninterrupted operation of the enterprise. Wrong decisions can lead to an accident and adverse consequences for both people and the environment;
- supervisory authorities are called upon to monitor the proper work of managers of hazardous industries. Lack of control or decreased vigilance can lead to serious consequences.
What can happen
It is quite difficult to foresee the consequences of negligence. The most common cases are:
- the employee did not fulfill part of his duties, but this did not lead to any consequences. No one except the employee himself knows about this. It is not possible to qualify such a case;
- the employee failed to fulfill part of his duties, which led to a disruption in production. Naturally, this was noticed by management. Material or disciplinary measures were taken against the offending employee, depending on the circumstances;
- the employee failed to perform part of his job duties, which resulted in property damage. Responsibility arises under Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
- the employee failed to fulfill part of his direct duties, which led to the death of a person or group of people. This is the worst possible option. Responsibility arises under Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Composition of criminal negligence and its types
Correctly defining and classifying negligence is very important. Negligence is often confused with official misconduct, which is unacceptable!
When defining negligence as a criminal act, such important features are taken into account as:
- Material losses expressed directly in monetary terms.
- The presence or absence of intent, for example, negligence or demonstrated and recorded negligence.
- Damage expressed in the form of damage to health or social status.
If the manager committed negligence intentionally, such a criminal act will be classified as abuse of authority or forgery.
Composition of a criminal act
According to Art. 293, criminal negligence has the following components:
- The objective side is the performed actions or inaction of the subject.
- The subjective side is the presence of an unintentional form of damage caused.
- Subject is an employee or head of an organization.
The crime of negligence lies in the obligatory presence of a certain cause-and-effect relationship between the manipulations committed and the consequences.
Main types of negligence
Despite the fact that the types of negligence demonstrated do not affect its classification, from a legal and criminal point of view the following types of criminal acts can be distinguished:
- Official negligence. Here the subjects are exclusively government employees.
- Official neglect of duties committed by a subject performing special administrative, organizational and economic work functions.
- Demonstrated professional negligence committed by employees of public organizations such as the police, hospital or educational institution.
The classification of negligence is affected only by the finding of significant consequences. We are talking about such serious problems as:
- Causing financial or property damage.
- Death of the victim or causing him serious harm.
So, if there is a certain person with his actions or complete inaction, if there is improper or illiterate performance of duties assigned by the position, if there is a connection between illegal acts and consequences, we can judge the negligence shown.
Composition of the offense
In order to accurately determine that a given offense occurred, it must lead to negative consequences.
If the fact of an adverse consequence, for example, damage to property, a failure in the operation of an enterprise or the death of a person, then a connection should be established between the inaction (poorly performed action) of the employee and the consequences that occurred. After establishing a connection between the incident and the employee’s actions, it is determined whether these actions were part of the employee’s job responsibilities. If they were not spelled out in the agreement, there can be no question of negligence.
The last stage in determining the elements of the offense is to establish the identity of the employee whose inaction or poor performance of duties led to the negative incident.
An object
The object of the offense is social relations that have 3 forms of expression:
- major damage;
- violation of the rights and freedoms of citizens given to them by the legislation of the Russian Federation;
- violation of the interests of society and the state.
Subject
The subject is the official who committed negligence.
Signs
Signs of negligence:
- committed by negligence;
- the official could have prevented the negative consequences from occurring, but did not;
- a sufficient level of official qualifications, experience, education, skills to prevent negative consequences.
Attention! If the official did not have sufficient skills (education, experience, etc.) to prevent the incident, this means that we are not talking about negligence.
Related violations and negligence
Negligence is difficult to protect from other related offenses.
Because often it is precisely this that is the “trigger mechanism” as a result of which other crimes occur. For example, if a seller's daily earnings are stolen, it is difficult for him to prove that he caused this through negligence, and did not conspire with the thief to enrich himself.
Negligence is not committed with direct intent. Therefore, it differs from offenses in which this intent is present. For example, abuse of work responsibilities.
Negligence should not lead to the benefit of the person who committed it. If there was a benefit, we are talking about a different crime.
Qualification Features
The subject of the crime is an official whose duties include performing actions in strict accordance with the law and job descriptions. To qualify under this article, there are three characteristic main features (or factors):
- There is a traceable connection between the actions or inactions of the official and the damage to the victim.
- Identification of the specific person who committed these actions and/or allowed them to be committed as a result of failure to fulfill their duties.
- Determination of the specific damage caused to the victim.
Liability under Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
Responsibility for this offense comes under Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The mildest punishment of all is a fine of up to 120,000 rubles.
Other types of punishment:
- financial contribution in the amount of annual salary;
- mandatory work, up to 180 hours;
- forced labor for up to 12 months;
- arrest for 90 days;
- imprisonment for up to 5 years if a person was injured;
- a ban on holding a similar position for a period of 3 years if a person was injured;
- imprisonment for up to 7 years if 2 or more people were injured.
Identification of the perpetrators
The procedure looks like this:
- the job responsibilities of the suspect under the employment contract are considered;
- it is determined whether the employee had the opportunity to fulfill his immediate duties;
- an official can independently admit to negligence, which can mitigate the punishment;
- whether there was pressure on the official (threat);
- it is determined whether the employee had the necessary qualifications to perform job duties, experience, skills, and so on.
Determination of guilt
Proving the guilt of civil servants, official or professional persons, as almost all scientific and practical comments interpret, is a rather complex process.
The investigative team needs to carry out a number of operations to determine the presence or absence of guilt of a particular citizen:
- The investigator is obliged to establish the range of professional responsibilities of a person who is accused of committing a crime under Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (as a rule, all job responsibilities must be specified in the job description). It should be noted that the legislator has created a typical list of labor and professional responsibilities, which are recommended to be taken as a basis when developing job descriptions of enterprises and institutions. Such an establishment is necessary in order to accurately prove the existence of official duties, non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment, which led to one or a group of the above-described consequences.
- A sincere independent admission of guilt by the accused. Moreover, such recognition can take place upon the onset of negative consequences or before their onset.
- Finding out whether there were any circumstances that directly or indirectly could prevent a civil servant, official or official from fulfilling their obligations. If, even in the presence of the most severe consequences, it turns out that the person was unable to fulfill his work duties due to force majeure circumstances, the court’s decision will be acquittal.
- If a person has not performed the necessary professional functions due to lack of appropriate qualifications, he cannot be charged with a crime under Article 293. In such a situation, responsibility for the negative consequences will be assigned to the person who appointed a person who does not have the necessary skills to a certain position ( for example, the chief physician will be held liable if it turns out that one of his subordinates did not fulfill his official obligation due to insufficient knowledge or skills).
- Finding out whether there was physical or moral, direct or indirect pressure on the accused, due to which he refused to perform his duties or performed them improperly. Such pressure may include blackmail, threats of physical harm or moral torture addressed to both the accused himself and his family members. If the fact of pressure is proven, as a rule, this will provide grounds for acquitting the accused.
With timely notification of immediate superiors about the committed act and an explanation of its reasons, as judicial practice shows, in most cases it is possible to avoid the onset of consequences and, as follows from this, criminal punishment for the perpetrator.
Problematic consequences
There are a huge number of problematic consequences that have occurred as a result of this violation.
Often it is officials and government officials who commit negligence. For example, they delay the consideration of citizens’ appeals, give them empty replies, and so on. All this can lead to citizens losing their benefits. But unfortunately, in such cases, people rarely seek legal protection, because they believe that if no damage was caused, then there was no violation.
Attention! The maximum statute of limitations for negligence cases is 6 years.
Examples
Criminal negligence can be expressed in both action and inaction. The provisions of the above article should be considered with examples.
Example 1. Full name 1 worked as a tower crane operator at the construction site of a multi-story building. Having worked the first 5 hours on his shift, Full Name 1 decided to arrange a “quiet hour” for himself and relax during his lunch break right in the cabin of the tower crane. While sleeping, FULL NAME 1’s hand slipped from the armrest of the driver’s seat and touched the lever. As a result of these actions, the crane's boom pierced the roof of the new building, which led to damage to the developer in the amount of 4,000,000 rubles.
Example 2. Public utility employee A. was authorized, together with his colleagues, to carry out activities to remove icicles from the canopy of the roof of an apartment building, the dimensions of which had assumed alarming proportions. Citizen A. was chosen as a foreman and signed the logbook for familiarization with safety precautions. Having arrived at the scene, employee A. did not bother to put up a fence, assuming that at such an early time (05:00) there would be no one under the roof. At the moment when A.’s brigade began to knock down the ice floes, the director of a local commercial establishment parked his car right in the place where the falling ice floes hit him. As a result of A.’s negligent attitude, the downed ice floes damaged the car, and repairs were estimated at 10,000,000 rubles.
Example 3. Unfortunately, the example that will be described below is found everywhere, and hundreds of people become victims of such negligence.
A married young couple, having drunk a lot of alcohol, decided to sort things out with their fists. A neighbor of the debaters in the stairwell, hearing the woman's screams, called the police with a statement that the woman's life could be in danger. The officer on duty, who accepted the call to respond to the citizen’s statement, due to his human laziness, replied that until nothing serious happened, no one would leave. After 20 minutes, the woman called the police again, saying that instead of screams she heard moans that sounded like death, but the answer was the same as when she first called. As a result, events took a very bad turn, and the husband, in a fit of anger, inflicted 3 puncture wounds on his wife with a knife, which resulted in death.
This attitude has become widespread not only among law enforcement officers, but also among medical workers. So, the above examples contain all 3 characteristic features that were described above. Characteristic signs of negligent crime from example No. 3:
- Objectivity - the inaction of a police officer led to the death of a person, since it was in his power to prevent what happened; it was enough to fulfill only his direct duties.
- Subjectivity - a specific person is identified - this is the employee on duty who received the call.
- Defectiveness - manifested itself in the death of a woman.
