Robbery: distinctive features, classification features and responsibility

Murder-robbery

is an offense under Article 240 of the Criminal Code.

Article 240 of the Criminal Code provides that "if a robber causes harm to a person, he shall be punished by imprisonment with labor for an indefinite period or six years or more, and in the event of his death, shall be punished with death or imprisonment with labor for an indefinite period."

This is a measured type of robbery, provided for in Article 236 of the Criminal Code. Attempts will also be punished (Article 243 of the Criminal Code).

Elements of the main view

Injuring a robber/killing a robber

The criminal law establishes a long punishment for murder-robbery, and in particular, if death occurs, the death penalty or life imprisonment is provided. This is due to reasons of criminal policy. In addition, due to the severity of this statutory punishment, not only in the case of aggravation of the crime committed as a result of robbery (a crime of the first stage is called murder- robbery, and
a crime
of the second stage is called murder-robbery), but also as a result of injury or death. There is only article 240 that applies, even if the actor intentionally (called murder-robbery and the meaning that healthy and precedent murder
- robbery
, respectively) Collection of criminal cases, vol. 1, p. 815). According to this theory, murder (Article 199) and bodily harm (Article 204) will not apply (conflict of law), but there is also a strong theory that an ideological conflict arises with them. Regarding the meaning of injury in this article, as opposed to injury crime, bruises, there is a strong theory that it does not include minor injuries such as redness and redness, and should be at a level that would normally require medical treatment. The reason is that assault and intimidation in robbery include minor bodily injury, and the cases in the lower courts were divided, but the Supreme Court denied this and interpreted it the same as bodily injury in a personal injury charge (Supreme Court, March 4, 1994) . One of the reasons for this interpretation was that there was no room for a suspended sentence in a robbery-murder case, but there is now room for a suspended sentence due to a revision of the law in 2004.

Deliberate attack

There is a theory that at a minimum there must be intent to attack to establish this crime, but legal precedents and common sense are such that there is no intent to attack (when there is only intent to intimidate or when there is the possibility of robbery, death or injury due to negligence

two counts of robbery

For example, there is a high probability that a case against a debtor regarding the murder of a creditor in order to evade payment of a debt (loan/rental housing (especially the overdue part)) will be initiated (by the police and the prosecutor's office).

Comments on Article 161 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Object of crime . The main object of robbery - social property relations - completely coincides in its socio-economic content with the objects of other forms of theft of other people's property. However, taking into account that, in accordance with the law, robbery can be combined with violence that is not dangerous to life or health, or with the threat of such violence, it should be recognized that the bodily integrity of a citizen can act as an optional object of criminal legal protection from this attack, victim of a crime.

Robbery as a form of theft is characterized by the open theft of someone else's property.

The subject of robbery can only be physical movable things (for example, the unauthorized seizure of someone else's apartment or land cannot be qualified as robbery).

The objective side of robbery is expressed in the open theft of someone else’s property and includes:

• act - illegal gratuitous seizure and (or) circulation of someone else's property in favor of the offender or other persons;
• consequences - causing property damage to the owner or other owner of the property;
• causal relationship between the act and the consequences.

Open theft of someone else's property, provided for in Article 161 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (robbery), is the theft that is committed in the presence of the owner or other owner of the property or in full view of strangers, when the person committing this crime is aware that those present at the time understand the illegal nature his actions, regardless of whether they took measures to suppress these actions or not (clause 3 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of December 27, 2002 N 29 “On judicial practice in cases of theft, robbery and robbery”).

The openness of theft is assessed according to a subjective criterion: theft will be considered open if, in the opinion of the perpetrator, it is obviously illegal in the eyes of those around him.

Robbery requires both the conversion of someone else's property in favor of the culprit or another person, and its removal from someone else's possession (illegal retention of someone else's property, not associated with its unlawful removal from someone else's possession, does not constitute robbery).

Robbery is considered a completed crime if the property is confiscated and the perpetrator has a real opportunity to use it or dispose of it at his own discretion (for example, to turn the stolen property into his own favor or for the benefit of other persons, to dispose of it for personal gain in another way) (clause 6 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 27, 2002 N 29).

Distinguishing robbery from other crimes

A characteristic feature that distinguishes robbery from theft is the method - theft during robbery must be open . Due to the particular audacity of the criminal, robbery is considered a more dangerous crime than theft.

The act of the perpetrator, which began as theft, develops into robbery when the fact of the seizure becomes known to the victim or other persons, and the criminal, realizing this circumstance, ignores it and completes the seizure of the property openly, clearly for eyewitnesses.

However, if a thief discovers that his crime has become known to unauthorized third parties, and he, fearing to be detained, abandons the stolen property and tries to escape from the scene of the crime, then what he has done does not go beyond the signs of attempted theft of someone else’s property.

Robbery differs from robbery by the nature of the violence that the offender uses or threatens to use. Violence during robbery, if it occurs, is not dangerous to life or health.

The subjective side of the crime under Art. 161 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is characterized by guilt in the form of only direct intent, as well as selfish purpose.

Direct intent in theft covers all objective signs that determine the qualification of the act, and is aimed at causing property damage to the victim

A selfish goal is understood as the goal of acquiring an unlawful property benefit for oneself or another person. In relation to theft, a selfish goal can be defined more narrowly as the goal of acquiring the opportunity for oneself or other persons to use or dispose of someone else’s property as one’s own.

Lack of selfish purpose . Unlawful actions aimed at taking possession of someone else’s property not for mercenary purposes, but, for example, for the purpose of its temporary use with subsequent return to the owner or in connection with the alleged right to this property do not constitute theft or robbery. Depending on the circumstances of the case, such actions, if there are grounds for it, are subject to qualification under Article 330 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation or other articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In cases where the illegal seizure of property was committed as a result of hooliganism, rape or other criminal acts, it is necessary to establish for what purpose the person seized this property.

If a person pursued a selfish goal, what he did, depending on the method of acquiring property, should be classified collectively as a corresponding crime against property and hooliganism, rape or another crime.

The subject of the crime is general - a sane individual who has reached the age of 14 at the time of the commission of the crime (Part 2 of Article 20 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Possibility of robbery

It is case law and common sense to think that the result of injury or death is not only assault as a means, but anything that occurred in the " opportunity for robbery"

", but this is too widespread and the scope of punishment should be limited. There is also a powerful theory to think about.

Topical research

• Murder-robbery is also established when the victim is frightened and traumatized by the threat that is the means of robbery (Osaka High Court, February 6, 1985, High Penalty Vol. 38, No. 1, p. 50, etc.).
• In order to rob a passing woman's purse, drive up to the woman, drive forward, holding the bag's strap, pull the woman onto the road, touch the body of the car, etc. Alternatively, the crime of murder-robbery is established. even when the purse is eventually stolen by touching an electric pole on the side of the road (Final Judgment, December 22, 1970, Vol. 24, No. 13, p. 1882).

Social danger of robbery

Its danger from the point of view of the law lies in the thin line between it and robbery. This is due to the increasing severity of this type of crime. Each of them, even if the criminal initially did not intend to injure or kill the victim, can lead to tragedy.

At the time of the attack, the victim’s mental state can be so traumatized that his imagination depicts the most terrible outcome of the meeting. This is partly justified. A robber cannot always predict a person’s behavior and reaction in such a situation.

For example, threats, even without physical force, can cause a fatal heart attack in an elderly person.

Or intimidation and beating of a pregnant woman can cause a miscarriage.

And a healthy adult, as a result of an impact, can fall on a sharp object and lose his life.

So it turns out that an act that is initially supposedly not dangerous to life and health sometimes takes on dangerous and tragic forms.

Completed / Attempted

There is a theory that attempted robbery is attempted robbery, but case law and the majority theory state that even with attempted robbery, the crime of robbery-murder will be established (there will be an attempt). 2, No. 7, p. 676). And, as a result, directly in an aggravated crime there is no attempt to commit a crime, but an attempt to cause harm is a robbery (see Causing bodily harm), and there is no attempt to cause harm .

that is, attempted murder-robbery.

What is robbery

Having described theft and armed robbery in general terms, let us dwell in more detail on robbery.

Robbery can be called a method of appropriating someone else's property, obvious and associated with actions of a violent nature that are not dangerous to the health and life of the victim.

Robbery always has a material component and the finitude of the crime. This means that the plan has been completed and the property of the victim has passed into the hands of the attacker, providing him with the opportunity to use it.

Case law regarding the number of crimes

• If a thief is attacked and injured by a policeman pursuing him to avoid arrest, then murder-robbery and the crime of obstruction of government business are in ideological conflict (February 15, 1943) 16 pp. daily fines, p. 236).
• In the case of one robbery, if several people are killed, the robbery and murder will be determined as many as there are victims (November 24, 1943, sentence 16th, p. 2121).

Preparing a crime

After understanding the essence of robbery, let's turn to ways of implementing criminal plans. This means that the robber does not always act according to the classic scheme - he met a passerby in the gateway, asked for a smoke, threatened with his fist and took away his watch and wallet. The criminal industry is growing.

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Today, such crimes are rarely committed at random. As a rule, this is preceded by serious preparation. It implies the following points:

• Intelligence to determine whether the risk of attack is justified. That is, the criminal must be sure that the victim has money and valuables that are worth the risk.
• Providing certain conditions. The attacker must protect himself as much as possible from the sudden appearance of police officers, or in general any citizens who can ruin his plans (for example, the presence of a sports club nearby, whose members can come to the aid of the victim).
• Thinking through safety nets in the form of accomplices and accomplices. These could be informants, a “support group” at the time of the crime, buyers of the victim’s property, producers of false documents - in a word, anyone who can ensure that the criminal escapes justice.

Accomplices are also persons present during the attack and intended to intimidate the victim.

At the same time, if an adult organized such a crime and sent a group of young children under 14 years of age to attack it, then he will bear full responsibility for everything, even though he was not personally present there.

• Study of the victim's personality. Preference is given to elderly and lonely people, women and men, from whom active resistance can hardly be expected.

2004 edition

Before partial amendments to the Criminal Code in 2004, the statutory sentence in the first sentence was "indefinite or imprisonment for a term of 7 years or more", but the amendment changed it to "indefinite or imprisonment for a term of 6 or more years" (Minister of Justice) .Chieko Nanno). Before the amendment, even if the amount of allowance was reduced (Articles 66 and 68 of the Criminal Code), the lower limit was June 3 and a suspended sentence could not be assigned (Article 25). It became a year and it became possible to give a suspended sentence.

The robbery is considered completed from the moment

As a general rule, robbery is considered completed from the moment when the guilty person has a real opportunity to use the stolen property at his own discretion, even if he did not have time to use it.

When qualifying crimes of this kind, as a rule, many controversial issues arise, because robbery can easily be confused with other similar crimes - theft or robbery, and the investigation does not always want to understand in detail all the nuances of the case. Therefore, immediately after initiating a criminal case, you should contact a qualified lawyer. The specialist will carefully analyze all the materials and suggest how you can get out of the current situation with the least losses.

If you are an injured party, the lawyer will give you a sample statement and help you correctly state the essence of your claims, selecting the necessary evidence and arguments.