According to the criminal procedure law, the reason for initiating a criminal case is the reporting of a crime. Typically, such a message is received by the law enforcement department in the form of a statement, in some cases - in the form of information from hospitals, schools, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, etc.
Another type of message is a confession, which contains an admission of committing an act. We will talk about the features of its preparation, legal nature and consequences in this article.
Definition
The definition of surrender is given in several Russian codes. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Article 61) states that this is the name of one of the circumstances that makes it possible to mitigate the punishment facing a citizen.
Criminal Code of the Russian Federation Article 61
The Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation (Article 142) provides a more understandable definition. Confession is a voluntary notification to law enforcement agencies that a person has committed a crime.
Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation Article 142 Do not confuse appearance with a sincere confession. These are two completely different concepts.
Differences between appearance and confession
The essence of a confession is that a person who has committed a crime independently applies to the authorized bodies to confirm his actions. This action is usually carried out before the initiation of a criminal case and serves to initiate it.
Differences between appearance and confession
A sincere confession is also a voluntary report from the offender about the act he has committed, but it is done during the course of procedural measures.
From the above, another difference follows that helps to distinguish between appearance and confession. In the first case, the citizen does not have the status of a suspect or is not an accused. The competent authorities do not know or suspect who committed the crime.
A sincere confession, on the contrary, is made by a suspect in a case or an accused. Usually carried out by the main person involved in the case.
I
An application can sometimes be filed directly in the course of a criminal case.
The senselessness of the crime
Planning to commit murder under the obsession of his own cruel theory, Raskolnikov planned to use the money stolen from the old woman for a good cause, to do a lot of good. But the murder itself and the current situation had such an impact on Raskolnikov that he was unable to steal the money, and hid several of the stolen jewelry under a stone in a remote yard. He did this under the fear of being exposed, but he most likely would not have been able to use such bloody booty himself. Thus, instead of one murder, there were two, and they had no meaning. This fact tormented Raskolnikov no less than the others: the fear of being exposed, disappointment in his own idea, the feeling of being a “trembling creature” instead of Napoleon.
What will turnout give?
Only the person who committed the offense can make a confession. A report of an unlawful act committed by a third party will not be considered an appearance. Only the violator has the right to write it.
Voluntary repentance before the start of legal proceedings has several advantages. If a person wrote an appearance, the document will give :
- grounds for opening a criminal case;
- the right of the applicant to act as the main suspect;
- the opportunity to reduce the sanctions provided for by law.
There are situations in which appearing allows you to avoid legal liability altogether. This is what Article 75 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation says.
How much is the punishment reduced?
Confession mitigates the punishment imposed on a citizen for the offense he has committed. This principle is spelled out in Art. 61 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Appearance is one of the factors mitigating sanctions imposed on a criminal, although not always.
When assigning a specific punishment, if a person voluntarily confessed to his crime, Art. 62 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It states that in the absence of aggravating circumstances and the presence of a confession, the punishment should not and cannot be more than 2/3 of the sanctions provided for the committed act. Accordingly, a person’s responsibility will decrease by a third.
How much is the punishment reduced?
If, in addition, a pre-trial agreement is drawn up and signed, the penalty should not exceed ½ of the maximum prescribed by law.
When can you avoid punishment completely?
In Art. 75 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation states that after turning himself in, a citizen can be completely released from legal liability. This is possible if:
- we are talking about a crime of medium or light gravity, committed for the first time;
- the citizen reported the violation through voluntary repentance before the start of the criminal process;
- the applicant contributes in every possible way to the investigation;
- the accused fully compensated for the damage caused.
In other cases, you will have to bear legal responsibility. And appearance with voluntary repentance does not always serve as a basis for mitigating the punishment.
When appearance does not weaken sanctions
In some cases, a confession may not be a factor in reducing the penalties required by law. In this situation, the document will serve as the basis for accusing the applicant and nothing more.
Appearance does not weaken the punishment if:
- the crime is punishable by life imprisonment;
- a person is sentenced to death for a violation;
- this is not the first time the crime has been committed;
- there are aggravating circumstances (Article 63 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
Thus, if a person committed a crime while intoxicated or children/pregnant women were injured during the violation, the punishment for turning himself in is not eligible for mitigation. Voluntary reporting of a violation will not reduce sanctions.
Presentation methods
There are different ways to make a confession. There are only two forms of this document enshrined in law.
There are two forms of presenting a confession: oral and written.
The first is written . It is usually presented in a free form statement. If a citizen applies to the authorized bodies with voluntary repentance, he may be given a form of the established form. To write an appearance, it is enough to carefully study the issued form and fill it out by hand.
The second form of presentation is oral . In this case, a person verbally reports the violation he has committed. A law enforcement officer is required to draw up a report of confession. It records everything that the violator said, as well as the full name of the employee who compiled the document. The protocol is considered valid only after it is signed by the applicant and an employee of the investigative committee.
In real life, a protocol of the established form is drawn up even when citizens make written appearances.
A citizen has the right to independently contact authorized services with a voluntary report of a violation committed. It is possible to transfer a document through a representative, although this practice is not encouraged by representatives of law enforcement agencies.
You can submit an application to the police, court, pre-trial detention center or other law enforcement agency. A citizen must:
- Draw up a statement in which he will report the violation he committed earlier.
- Prepare other evidence of your guilt, if possible.
- With identification, contact your local law enforcement agency and submit an appearance to the authorized person.
Filling out a confession form directly when contacting law enforcement officials is also possible. When communicating verbally, the authorized person will independently draw up a protocol and then give it to the applicant for signing.
Sample document - writing rules
The surrender pattern resembles a statement of crime. The document is drawn up in free form by the person who committed the violation.
To fill out the document correctly, you need to:
- do this on a white A4 sheet;
- in the upper right corner write the body to which the document is submitted, if possible - the details of its head;
- under the information about the place of appearance, write information about the applicant: telephone number, full name, place of residence;
- in the main part of the document, describe all the important facts for the case - date, time, location of the incident, specific actions of the offender, consequences of the crime;
- if there are victims, indicate their behavior during the commission of the violation;
- indicate that the person is aware of the consequences of a knowingly false denunciation;
- inform and sign next to the explanation of the rights of the violator (for example, Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation allows not to testify against oneself or close relatives);
- put the date of the document at the end of the form and sign it.
If at the time of appearance a citizen is a defendant in any case, this must also be indicated. Which police department or judicial authority is considering it, too.
A citizen can make a confession by writing a statement by hand or printing it out on a computer. It is preferable to use the first method of drawing up a document.
Here is an example of a voluntary report about a crime committed by a person:
An example of filling out a confession
If a person reports a crime that was not previously known, this factor will mitigate the punishment for the relevant violation.
Is appearance a confirmation of guilt?
A person’s independent appeal to law enforcement agencies with a statement of an offense committed is the basis for initiating a criminal case. The executed document will be considered initial evidence of guilt.
The man made a confession. The Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (Resolution “On the Judicial Sentence” of 2016) emphasizes that voluntary reporting of a crime cannot be the basis for confirming guilt. This requires that the investigating authorities have evidence of the relevant act. For example, the results of examinations or confrontations.
Resolution No. 55
The Supreme Court draws the attention of judges not only to the fact of appearance, but also to the circumstances under which the corresponding document was drawn up. A confession written without a lawyer and an explanation of the applicant's rights to use the defense should not be accepted as evidence of guilt in court.
After the Resolution was published, law enforcement agencies began to issue specially prepared forms for writing appearances with voluntary confession. They already explain the rights of the applicant.
Confession of a minor
If an adult citizen has the right to choose the methods and options for his own protection, then for minors this possibility is excluded. All procedural events involving children can only be carried out in the presence of a defense attorney and legal representatives. Violation of this rule will entail the recognition of protocols and statements as invalid, as well as their exclusion from the case materials.
The confession of a minor occurs according to the following rules:
- when a child makes an oral or written request, a lawyer may be invited by his parents or other legal representatives;
- if a minor comes to the police without a lawyer, the interrogating officer is obliged to call a public defender;
- Until the lawyer appears when called, carrying out any procedural actions with the child is unacceptable, even if his parents insist on it.
Note!
A confession issued after the child was detained at the crime scene will not be considered as a mitigating factor.
If, upon verification of the application, it is determined that the child is not subject to liability due to age, a decision is made to terminate further procedural actions. This does not deprive victims of the opportunity to go to court for compensation for material or moral damage from the child’s legal representatives.
Possibility of refusal
There are often cases when a person first turns to law enforcement agencies with a voluntary confession to a crime, but at trial or during interrogation he recantes his words. For example, referring to pressure from law enforcement officials. You can do this, refusal is not prohibited.
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation says: if a citizen refuses to appear, there is a need to check whether the document was actually written under pressure or physical violence. If the accused's arguments are confirmed, the appearance is invalid. It is excluded from the range of evidence of a person’s guilt.
If a confession is written in the presence of a lawyer, it is always recognized as evidence of guilt. This is due to the fact that the accused will no longer be able to plead legal illiteracy or ignorance of his rights.
If representatives of law enforcement agencies explain the benefits entitled to a person upon voluntary admission of guilt, this will not be considered pressure.
Distinctive features
A confession may be made orally or by means of a statement.
In the first case, the information must be accepted and entered into the protocol (Part 2 of Article 142 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation) in a strictly regulated form (Part 3 of Article 141 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation). One should also distinguish between confession and sincere repentance. Even though both of these documents are confessions of a crime, they differ significantly:
- A confession notifies police officers of a crime and is the basis for opening a criminal case. And a sincere confession is a form of repentance of the criminal for an existing case. It reveals the circumstances of what happened and allows one to identify accomplices.
- Confession is the desire of a person to voluntarily report his participation in an offense. A sincere confession is a person’s awareness of his actions in a negative way, a desire to improve, and providing maximum assistance to the investigation.
The key difference is that a confession does not have to be subject to criminal investigation.
A sincere confession, on the contrary, can only be drawn up in the process of investigative actions in an open criminal case. However, if the statement was written under pressure from police officers and is not voluntary, you can write a petition to cancel his involvement in the investigation. The judge will consider this appeal immediately after all investigative actions have been completed to determine the veracity of the petition.
