Responsibility for attempted theft under Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

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In accordance with Russian criminal legislation, the fact that a criminal act was not completed does not exclude criminal liability for its commission.

Chapter 6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation establishes liability for unfinished crimes at various stages (preparation, attempt, completed crime).

Using the example of one of the most common elements of crime, let us consider in more detail the stage of an attempted criminal act.

What is attempted theft?

An attempted crime is an act prohibited by criminal law, but not brought to its logical conclusion by the criminal due to circumstances beyond his control.

Any attempted crime is regulated by Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which deals with such stages as preparation and the actual attempt.

The same can be said about attempted theft. Theft in general understanding is the secret theft of someone else's property. In more detail - the secret, illegal seizure of someone’s property from the possession of a specific subject, committed for selfish purposes.

The subject of theft can be anything. Things, products, jewelry, cars, livestock, telephones, and so on, of any value and having a certain value.

One of the mandatory signs of theft and theft is the infliction of property damage to the owner in a certain amount.

To incur criminal liability, a criminal must overcome a certain cost barrier (expressed in a specific amount in rubles). Currently, this amount is 2,500 rubles . Theft for a smaller amount will be considered minor and will be punished administratively.

In case of theft, the crime is considered completed from the moment the criminal has the opportunity to dispose of the stolen property at his own discretion - sell, exchange, pawn, donate, hide temporarily, transfer to someone for storage, eat, throw away, use in any other way for the benefit of yourself or other persons.

Attempted theft, based on the definitions mentioned above, will be the secret theft of someone else’s property, which has not been completed (as a rule, the criminal does not have the opportunity to dispose of the property that has already been stolen, or he has not yet had time to take possession of it).

Any crimes in which an attempt is possible are classified under Part 3 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the corresponding article of the Criminal Code, in our case Article 158. On paper it will look like this - “brought to criminal liability under Article 158, Part 1, Part 3 Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.”

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Features of the crime

To begin with, we should note the main features of theft, which allow us to classify the act as this type of crime:

• Target
  . Theft always has a selfish purpose on the part of the criminal. Accordingly, in order to prove that this is theft, it is necessary to present evidence confirming self-interest.
• Property focus
  . The subject of theft is always property, both in physical and monetary terms. That is, the criminal is necessarily interested in this or that person’s property, and the fact of the crime itself is recorded only when the property disappears.
• Secret character
  . Theft is considered a so-called “hidden” crime. This means that the person targeted by the crime does not know about the theft until the moment he discovers the loss. This often complicates the investigation of the case, since discovery sometimes occurs several weeks, or even months after the fact of the theft.

Theft can be carried out either by a group of persons or by one person, and further liability directly depends on these features of the crime.

Examples of attempted theft

Let's look at a few typical examples of attempted theft of someone else's property.

Attempted shoplifting

We can safely say that theft in large chain stores is the most common in our time. Despite modern methods of protection in supermarkets, the organization of serious security of trading floors, the presence of video surveillance, thefts are committed there every day by tens and hundreds.

A considerable number of them are also stopped in these places precisely at the stage of the assassination attempt.

Example. Citizen Ya came to the Lenta hypermarket, hid a couple of sticks of sausage under his clothes, put a bottle of cognac in his jacket pocket, and put sweets and chocolate in his jacket pockets. When approaching the cash registers, Ya. was stopped by the store security guard and taken to the back room, where police officers were called to document the situation.

Having recalculated the cost of the goods that Ya tried to steal, the amount was established at 3 thousand rubles. Ya. honestly admitted to the police that he had the intention of taking goods from the store without paying, but was noticed and stopped by a security guard.

Y. was unable to use the stolen property and dispose of it at his own discretion due to circumstances beyond his control (he was detained by security). Subsequently, Ya. will be charged under Part 1 of Article 158, Part 3 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for attempted theft of someone else’s property.

Attempted theft of funds

Example. Citizens O. and S. agreed in advance to steal money from ATMs located in accessible places in the city at night, purchased the necessary equipment and a car. O. and S. entered one of the bank premises, where there were several ATMs. The method used to open ATMs was determined by the comrades to explode the terminal body and further confiscate the cassettes with money.

O. pumped gas into two ATMs and lit the fuse, a strong explosion occurred, from which O. was concussed and lost consciousness, S. left the bank premises and drove away. O. was detained at the scene of the crime by the arriving officers of the Russian Guard. The next day S. was also detained.

In the actions of O. and S., the investigative authorities can reasonably determine the corpus delicti under Art. 158 part 2, part 3 of article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – attempted theft of someone else’s property. In this case, the criminals could not even take possession of the money, but nevertheless they will bear criminal liability.

We can summarize briefly.

1. If someone tried to commit theft and was unable to bring his actions to the desired conclusion not of his own free will, we will have - attempted theft.
2. Despite the unfinished nature of the criminal act, the person who committed the attempt will be held criminally liable.
3. An exception to these rules will be a voluntary refusal to commit a crime.

Punishment for attempted petty theft under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation

Russian criminal legislation does not provide for criminal liability for attempted petty theft or attempted petty theft upon its initial commission.

The administrative legislation of Russia does not provide for liability for attempted, or rather attempted, petty theft. In other words, administrative liability is possible only for completed trains .

And in general, this area of ​​law does not contain the concept of theft. It is borrowed by analogy from criminal law. This is a kind of gap in the legislation and creates certain problems in law enforcement.

Petty theft, punishable by the administrative code of Russia, means theft committed by theft, fraud, misappropriation or embezzlement, if the value of the stolen property does not exceed 1000 and 2500 rubles, respectively, for the first and second parts of Article 7.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

And also in the actions of a person there are no qualifying features of the relevant articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (158, 159, 159.1, 159.2, 159.3, 159.5, 159.6, 160).

The amount of property damage caused to the victim should not exceed the amount of 2,500 rubles, otherwise petty theft turns into the most common - criminal, with all the ensuing consequences.

So, in order to bring a person to administrative responsibility for petty theft, the following signs must be present:

• property damage caused by an act not exceeding 1000 and 2500 rubles, respectively, according to parts 1 and 2 of the Code of Administrative Offences;
• absence of qualifying features of the relevant articles of the Criminal Code.
• the offense must be complete.

An example of petty theft. Citizen E. in the Auchan hypermarket hides a bottle of whiskey under items of clothing, enters the technological room of the store and drinks the contents of the bottle, after which he goes out. On his way out, E. is stopped by a security guard and discovers an empty bottle. Recordings from CCTV cameras confirm E’s actions. Based on the assessment of the goods, the cost of a bottle of whiskey was determined to be 2,350 rubles. During a preliminary check with the police, it was established that E. had not previously been brought to administrative responsibility for theft.

The qualifying features of Article 158 of the Criminal Code have not been established in E.’s actions. There is evidence of E. committing petty theft, punishable under Part 2 of Article 7.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

If citizen E. in this situation stole, for example, a shirt of similar value and was detained by a security guard, then no corpus delicti or crime would be found in his actions. Since E.’s actions would not be considered completed, there is no sign of the possibility of disposing of property at his own discretion.

The absence of the concept of stages of commission in administrative legislation not only creates the preconditions for the possibility of endless unpunished attempts at theft in stores, but also various problems and diversity in the enforcement of these articles.

You should not expect to go unpunished in these situations.

For example, in some regions, administrative liability for attempted thefts in the same stores is applied and the persons committing these attempts are held accountable (courts interpret the end point of the act differently).

In cases of attempted theft of food and alcohol, some courts recognize the fact of disposal of property as having taken place - they could drink or eat.

Persons who damage products while attempting to take possession of someone else's property are subject to civil damages through the courts.

And in general, all the staff, as a rule, know the people who constantly commit petty thefts in stores and they try not to let them in, they are closely watched and sooner or later they are brought to justice either administratively or criminally.

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Corpus delicti

The elements of theft essentially determine what specific type of offense the act will be classified as, and also affects the type and size of the preventive measure imposed by the court.

The subject is property that has real value, or cash.

Its features include illegality, gratuitousness, causing harm to the owner of the objects, as well as the difficulty of qualification.

The subject in all cases is a capable citizen who has crossed the age limit of 14-16 years.

The object of the offense varies depending on the form the theft takes. So, in the case of theft, embezzlement or embezzlement, this is a relationship to a specific form of property ; in robbery and fraud, it is the right of ownership ; in robbery, it is a specific form of property, as well as human life and health.

In all cases, the offense will be considered completed at the moment of sale of property obtained by illegal means, except for robbery, when it will be committed on the day of its direct execution.

Responsibility for attempted theft under Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Theft, in accordance with Russian criminal law, is the secret theft of someone else's property. The main composition in law enforcement practice, accounting for up to 60% in the structure of crime in Russia.

The elements of theft are enshrined in Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Attempted theft will be qualified accordingly as Article 158, Part 3 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

As already described above, the damage caused to the owner for criminal theft and attempted theft must be at least 2,500 rubles for unqualified personnel of the first part of Article 158.

The structure of the article is 4 parts, the main composition and 3 parts of qualified characteristics.

Responsibility for committing criminal theft (and attempting it) begins at the age of 14 .

1. The object of the composition is a property right protected by law.
2. The subjective side is characterized by direct intent.
3. The objective side is expressed in the form of an action by a person aimed at the illegal, secret seizure of property from legal use and the emergence of the opportunity to dispose of this property at his own discretion.

Qualifying elements include attempted theft:

In the table below we will also consider the penalties defined in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in accordance with parts of Art. 158.

Attempted theft by a group of people

A group attempted theft in relation to theft is the commission of theft by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.

A group in various compositions of the Criminal Code is 2 or more people taking part in a crime. Preliminary conspiracy should be understood as an agreement between the persons involved in the theft to act together before the commission of a crime.

A crime committed in a group will be recognized as any, regardless of the role of participation in the theft (for example, one stood on the street, observing the actions of a security guard, the second stole in the premises, if the intent and purpose were agreed upon in advance, there will be a group of persons).

Attempted grand theft

A large amount for theft of all types, including theft and attempted theft, is the amount of damage exceeding 250,000 rubles .

The concept of large and especially large damage is established in the note to Article 158 and, in connection with this, has an unambiguous understanding and application.

In a particularly large size

A particularly large amount is provided for in Part 4 of Article 158 and amounts to an amount exceeding 1 million rubles .

To a significant extent

This characteristic differs from the large and especially large sizes listed above in that it does not have a fixed meaning.

The amount of significance starts from 5000 rubles . And further importance is given to the characteristics of the property status of the injured owner (income from the place of work, ownership of movable and immovable property, etc.).

For example, for the owner of a plant with an annual profit of several tens of millions, damage of 200 thousand rubles may be insignificant. And for a pensioner, the loss of even 5,000 thousand will be definitely important and significant.

As can be seen from the table above, the legislator has provided for the entire range of possible types of punishment provided for by criminal law for committing theft. The most serious and widespread is the deprivation of liberty of a citizen for a term of up to 10 years according to the fourth part of the offense.

Responsibility for an attempt on various elements of the criminal code provides for the imposition of punishment in a particularly specific manner.

So, in accordance with Article 66 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, in case of an attempt, the term and amount of punishment cannot be higher than three quarters of the maximum term or amount of the most severe type of punishment .

In the composition under consideration - no more than 7.5 years for attempted theft on an especially large scale under Part 3 of Article 30, Part 4 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

What is the difference

Let's consider a few more nuances that allow us to distinguish between types of theft:

1. Nature of the crime

The secret method of theft is typical only for theft; all other forms of theft are open.

1. Use of physical force

Theft does not imply harm to the life or health of the victim, and robbery or robbery is accompanied by violent actions.

1. Methods of confiscation of valuables

In cases of robbery, robbery or fraud, the appearance of voluntary transfer of an item to the criminal may be created. For example, under the influence of a real threat, money may be transferred or property may be transferred.

1. Term of imprisonment

The maximum penalty for theft cannot exceed 10 years' imprisonment. For robbery or robbery, the offender faces up to 15 or 4 years in prison.

Whether the act was committed openly or secretly, with the use of violence or not, fraudulently or through threats - these signs determine the type of theft.

How to prosecute for attempted theft?

The procedure for bringing someone to justice for theft or attempted theft is quite simple.

Every detected case of theft or attempted theft must be reported to law enforcement agencies , and in particular to the nearest territorial police department. The message can be made in any way convenient for you: telephone, fax, message on the website, personal visit to the police.

After the message, the owner must write a statement in which he indicates when, where and who tried to steal your property, whether you have a suspect, and indicate without fail what damage was caused to you.

If you attempt to steal from a retail outlet, confirm the possible damage with documents (results of a documentary audit, a certificate of the value of the goods), ensure that security and store personnel are interviewed, and provide video surveillance recordings during the attempt.