The concept of a crime, signs, categories of crimes (Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)

Article 25 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is applied on the territory of the Russian Federation and was created for the correct classification of criminal acts, depending on the type of guilt.
If an act is committed intentionally, it is important to determine what intent the person had: direct or indirect. The difference between intentions is determined by psychological volitional characteristics. To do this, you need to find out whether the criminal wanted to cause harm and whether he understood that his crime could be followed by a dangerous result for society. Multi-channel free hotline Legal advice on criminal law. Every day from 9.00 to 21.00

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Contents of acts

Science identifies certain signs of a crime. Categories of crimes are characterized by public danger. This is how they differ from other behavioral acts of people. Intentions that are contrary to the interests of other subjects, not expressed by any actions or inactions, as well as a person’s way of thinking and perception are not a crime. Bringing the subject to justice in such cases is regarded as a violation of personal and civil rights. Another sign of a crime is illegality.

Planned and sudden

Lawyers also distinguish between these two intentions:

The first of them has the following meaning: the attacker thought out and planned the crime in advance, and then only decided to carry it out. Here, as an example, we can cite any well-thought-out theft or murder;
The second type is sometimes also called affected, since it occurs when an act is committed as a result of a shock or under psychological pressure of some circumstances . For example, a wife in anger hit her husband hard on the head. Here we will talk about sudden intent, under the influence of strong emotions.

There are also planned and sudden intentions.

In the first case, more complex and severe punishments will be imposed for crimes, since the behavior of the attacker indicates his particular danger to everyone around him.

In the second case, preventive measures may be milder or in shorter terms, since here we are talking about a sudden intention that the person did not have before.

Social danger

It acts as the main and main sign of a crime. This provision is enshrined in legislation. A public danger is the ability of a committed action/inaction to cause damage to interests protected by law. Such harm can be material (for example, in case of theft), physical (in case of injury), moral (in case of insult), organizational and managerial (in case of abuse of authority) and so on. Any category of crime is characterized by causing harm or creating such a threat. That is why the act is considered socially dangerous.

Nature of the threat

It should be understood as a qualitative assessment of the social danger of a certain category of crime, which is described in the disposition of the article given in the Special Part. The nature of the threat is determined by criteria reflecting the value of the goods against which the attack is committed. These include:

The danger of the method used to cause damage.
Amount of harm.
Conditions for causing damage.
The form of guilt or its type.

In some cases, the personal qualities of the performer are also taken into account.

Danger level

It is understood as a quantitative assessment of the threat. The degree of danger is established by the judicial authority by determining the number of criteria given in the disposition of the article from the Special Part, the specific circumstances under which the act was committed. Mitigating and aggravating factors that are not dispositive are also of considerable importance.

The main difference between indirect intent and direct intent

The key difference between direct and indirect intent is the volitional moment, that is, the desire to achieve criminal consequences. With direct intent, the culprit not only understands that he is committing a crime, but also purposefully strives to commit it, wanting to achieve specific consequences.

With indirect intent, there is no purposeful desire to achieve a specific result, but at the same time, there is a clear understanding that these consequences are quite real and can occur

Theorists and practicing lawyers should know how indirect intent as a type of guilt differs from criminal frivolity.

In the latter case, criminal frivolity looks like a kind of arrogance, in which a person foresees the possibility of dangerous consequences of his action, but frivolously expects that he will prevent them, that “everything will work out.”

In the case of indirect intent, there is no talk of any possibility or intention “in case something happens” to prevent the danger. Indirect intent as a type of guilt differs from criminal frivolity in that the person foresees in advance the possibility of consequences from his actions and consciously allows them, or is indifferent.

Often, in practice, situations arise when drawing the line between indirect intent and criminal frivolity is not so easy and lawyers need to make a lot of effort to prove their case. Indeed, often the qualification of the crime and the fate of the person depend on this.

Personal qualities of the performer

They do not belong to the elements of an unlawful act and do not influence the degree of social danger. This corresponds to the constitutional principle of equality of citizens before the law, regardless of:

Paula.
Races.
Place of residence/birth.
Political beliefs.
Property, social status.
Nationality.
Language and other things.

The qualities of a criminal type (for example, the desire to commit a repeated act - relapse) reflect the degree of social danger of the act itself and its perpetrator. They are taken into account when choosing punishment.

Illegality

It consists in the prohibition of an act specified in criminal law, under penalty of prosecution. This provision means that only those contained in the Code are considered illegal behavior. In this case, you should pay attention to an important nuance. An act, even one that poses a significant public danger, will not be considered a crime if it is not specified in the Criminal Code. For example, a citizen appropriated the found property. Such an action will not be recognized as a crime, although it is characterized by a certain degree of public danger, since, on the one hand, it acts as illegal enrichment, and on the other, it causes damage to the victim. Thus, wrongfulness indicates the dependence of the criminalization of behavior on the law.

Definite and indefinite intent

In the science of criminal law, there is another classification of intent. In fact, the names themselves indicate the meaning behind them:

The first occurs in cases where a person commits an act for some very specific purpose (the thief expects to receive funds or property for the purpose of their subsequent sale and obtaining benefits for himself);
The second is the one that manifests itself in the actions of a citizen who did not have any specific goal in front of him at the time of committing the act (as in the case of a drunk who decided to check his weapon).

Categories of crimes in the Russian Federation

Criminalization of a subject's behavior does not mean that the degree and nature of the danger of an action or inaction are always the same. In reality, they may differ significantly for certain acts. This, in turn, gives rise to differences between punishments and other measures of influence. The classification into categories of crimes of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation serves as a legal tool that allows taking into account the nature and degree of social danger. It is enshrined in Art. 15 of the Code. In addition to the degree and nature of social danger, the classification uses such a criterion as guilt.

Article 25 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (crime committed intentionally)

In relation to the latest edition of the UKRF with final amendments that entered into force on February 19, 2022, Art. 25 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation consists of three parts:

An atrocity committed with direct or indirect intent is considered to be committed intentionally.
A crime is committed with direct guilt (intentional crime), if the offender understood the danger to society that his actions pose and knew about the inevitability of a dangerous result for the public and wanted it to happen.
An action is considered to have been committed with indirect intent when the perpetrator understands that his actions are dangerous to society and implied the possibility of harm from his actions. But the criminal did not want to cause harm, although he assumed that this was permissible, and recklessly looked at the upcoming outcome.

This article is contained in the General Part of the Criminal Code, and accordingly acts as one of the parts characterizing the corpus delicti. It determines the subjective side (the psychological participation of the perpetrator in the crime committed in the form of intent) of any crime provided for by the legislation existing on the territory of the country.

Severity

According to this criterion, four categories of crimes are distinguished:

Slight heaviness. This group includes careless and intentional acts, for which current legislation provides for a maximum penalty of imprisonment for up to 2 years.
Moderate weight. These crimes are considered intentional acts, for which the maximum penalty is no more than five years in prison. This group also includes careless behavior, for which the Code provides for imprisonment for more than 2 years.
Heavy. For such crimes, the law provides for no more than 10 years in prison.
Particularly severe. These are considered intentional acts for which the person who committed them faces more than ten years in prison. The Code also provides for more severe punishment, up to life imprisonment.

In the first two cases, the categories of crimes include both careless and intentional behavior, and in the last two - only those that were committed with intent.

Concept, signs and types of crimes

A crime is a socially dangerous act committed guilty of guilt, prohibited by the Criminal Code under threat of punishment. A crime is understood only as an act, i.e. human behavior, objectified in a certain form. Neither thoughts, nor intentions or desires that have not found their external expression, nor embodied in a socially dangerous act, can be recognized as a crime.

An act as an act of human behavior can be expressed in two forms:

— action (active behavior of the subject),

- inaction (passive behavior consisting in a person’s failure to perform an action that he was obliged to and could perform).

An act cannot be considered criminal if a person was deprived of freedom of choice as a result of physical or mental coercion or force majeure.

An act can be expressed both in the performance of a body movement and in the use of the forces of nature, animals, or individuals. An action has its beginning and end, which is important for establishing in a person’s act the signs of a completed crime, preparation, attempt or voluntary refusal to commit a crime.

The final moment of an action is either the occurrence of a criminal result specified in the law, or the last act of a series of movements, which in their totality form a criminal action (if the law does not indicate consequences). The legislative definition of the concept of a crime is based on the fact that any crime is characterized by a combination of a number of mandatory characteristics.

These signs are:

1) public danger;

2) criminal wrongfulness;

3) guilt;

4) punishability of the act.

The social danger of an act is a material sign of a crime that reveals its social essence. Social danger means that the act is harmful to society, in other words, the social danger of the act is that it causes or creates a threat of causing significant harm to social relations. If an act formally falls under the criteria contained in the provisions of the Criminal Code, but due to its insignificance is not capable of causing such harm, then it is not recognized as a crime. An approximate list of social relations that are harmed by crimes is contained in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

These are, first of all, the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, property, public order and public safety, the environment, the constitutional system of the Russian Federation, peace and security of mankind. Public danger as a material sign of the concept of crime varies in nature and degree.

The nature of public danger is its qualitative indicator. It depends on the content of social relations that are encroached upon by crimes, the harmful consequences (material, physical, moral harm), the specifics of the method of encroachment (violent, selfish), the form of guilt (intentional, careless), the nature, motive and goals of the crime.

The degree of public danger is its quantitative indicator. It is determined by the comparative value of the objects, the severity of the consequences caused, the danger of the method of committing the crime, the level of guilt (premeditation, affected intent, gross negligence), the baseness of the motives and goals of the crime, the comparative danger of the crime depending on the specifics of the place and time of its commission and other circumstances.

Criminal wrongfulness means that a socially dangerous act is provided for by criminal law as a crime. The act is declared criminal and punishable by the command of the criminal law. Criminal wrongfulness consists in the prohibition of a crime by the relevant norm of the Special Part of the Criminal Code under threat

application of punishment to the perpetrator. To this day, the classic principle of Roman law “NULLum crimen sine lege” (“There is no crime without an indication of it in the law”) applies.

The third most important sign of a crime is the guilt of the person who committed a socially dangerous and criminally unlawful act. Guilt as a constructive feature of a crime directly follows from the principle of guilt enshrined in Part 1 of Art. 5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: “A person is subject to criminal liability only for those socially dangerous actions (inaction) and socially dangerous consequences for which his guilt has been established.” The criminal legislation of the Russian Federation is consistently based on the principle of subjective imputation.

Objective imputation is not allowed (Part 2 of Article 5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). No matter what socially dangerous consequences are caused by a person’s act, no matter how dangerous the nature of the actions he commits, a person cannot be held criminally liable if he committed the act innocently. Only a sane person who has reached the age of criminal responsibility can be found guilty. Therefore, the actions of minors, as well as socially dangerous actions of the insane, cannot be considered as a crime.

Crime is always immoral , it is an act contrary to the principles of morality and morality.

The subject of a crime can only be a sane individual who has reached a certain age (Article 19 of the Criminal Code). As a general rule, persons who have reached the age of 16 at the time of committing a crime are subject to criminal liability. However, for many of the most dangerous crimes, responsibility begins at the age of 14 (for murder, intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm, kidnapping, rape, theft, terrorism, hostage-taking, knowingly false reporting of an act of terrorism, vandalism, etc.) (Article 20 of the Criminal Code ).

A person who, at the time of committing a socially dangerous act, was in a state of insanity, i.e., could not understand the nature and social danger of his actions or control them due to a chronic mental disorder, temporary mental disorder, dementia or other painful mental state, is not subject to criminal liability. The court may apply compulsory medical measures to such persons (Article 21 of the Criminal Code). A person who commits a crime while under the influence of alcohol, drugs or toxic substances is subject to criminal liability (Article 23 of the Criminal Code).

Categorization of crimes - dividing them into types depending on the nature and degree of public danger. Categorization received legislative expression using two signs - the form of guilt and the punishment in the form of imprisonment provided for this crime in the sanctions of the Special Part of the Criminal Code.

The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation distinguishes four categories of crime:

- slight heaviness,

- moderate severity,

- heavy,

- especially severe.

Crimes of minor gravity are considered intentional and careless acts, for the commission of which the maximum punishment provided for by the Criminal Code does not exceed 2 years of imprisonment.

Crimes of medium gravity are considered intentional and careless acts, for which the maximum punishment does not exceed 5 years of imprisonment.

Intentional and careless acts are considered serious, for which the maximum punishment does not exceed 10 years in prison.

Intentional acts are considered especially serious, the commission of which carries a maximum penalty of imprisonment for a term of over 10 years or a more severe punishment.

The category of crime has important legal significance. The severity of the crime is taken into account, in particular, when determining the type of recidivism (simple, dangerous, especially dangerous), when determining the type and amount of punishment, resolving issues of exemption from criminal liability or from punishment when calculating the terms of a criminal record. An integral, specific feature of a crime is its punishability.

Punishment is a necessary legal consequence of a crime. A criminal law norm containing a description of a specific type of crime always provides for a certain punishment for its commission.

Criminal punishment is a type of legal liability, a measure of state coercion, imposed by a court verdict. It consists in the deprivation or restriction of rights and freedoms provided for by the Criminal Code (Article 43 of the Criminal Code).

The punishment is public . It is applied only by the court and expresses a negative assessment of the criminal and his actions by the state, therefore the sentence is passed by the court on behalf of the state. Punishment pursues the goals of restoring social justice, correcting the convicted person and preventing the commission of new crimes.

The specificity of criminal punishment lies in the establishment by the state of penalties (Article 44 of the Criminal Code), some of which, in their severity, are incomparable with other measures of legal liability. In criminal law there are such penalties as arrest, which consists of keeping the convicted person in conditions of strict isolation from society and set for a period of one to six months; imprisonment for a term of six months to 20 years, and in some cases up to 25 and even 30 years; life imprisonment, which is used only as an alternative to the death penalty for committing particularly serious crimes that encroach on life; the death penalty. There are also more lenient penalties in criminal law, some of which are also used as administrative penalties for administrative offenses (fine, confiscation of property, etc.).

An act as an act of human behavior can be expressed in two forms:

— action (active behavior of the subject),

- inaction (passive behavior consisting in a person’s failure to perform an action that he was obliged to and could perform).

An act cannot be considered criminal if a person was deprived of freedom of choice as a result of physical or mental coercion or force majeure.

These signs are:

1) public danger;

2) criminal wrongfulness;

3) guilt;

4) punishability of the act.

application of punishment to the perpetrator. To this day, the classic principle of Roman law “NULLum crimen sine lege” (“There is no crime without an indication of it in the law”) applies.

Crime is always immoral , it is an act contrary to the principles of morality and morality.

The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation distinguishes four categories of crime:

- slight heaviness,

- moderate severity,

- heavy,

- especially severe.

Crimes of minor gravity are considered intentional and careless acts, for the commission of which the maximum punishment provided for by the Criminal Code does not exceed 2 years of imprisonment.

Crimes of medium gravity are considered intentional and careless acts, for which the maximum punishment does not exceed 5 years of imprisonment.

Intentional and careless acts are considered serious, for which the maximum punishment does not exceed 10 years in prison.

Intentional acts are considered especially serious, the commission of which carries a maximum penalty of imprisonment for a term of over 10 years or a more severe punishment.

Punishment is a necessary legal consequence of a crime. A criminal law norm containing a description of a specific type of crime always provides for a certain punishment for its commission.

Other criteria

What other categories of crimes exist? The Criminal Code distinguishes between illegal and socially dangerous acts depending on the object of the attack. Thus, behavior may be aimed at violating personal integrity, economic stability, public safety and order, and so on. Categories of criminal offenses are also distinguished depending on the form of guilt:

Careless.
Deliberate.

In practice, to resolve the issue of applying punishment, the classification enshrined in Art. 15 (categories of crimes by severity).

Another comment to Article 25 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Forms of guilt: indirect and direct. If the form of guilt is direct, then the guilty person understands the danger to society that his act poses; predicts that his action will entail consequences; intends for the result to occur.

To guess the result of an act means to have an idea of future changes that will occur after breaking the law.

In the direct form of intent, the criminal realizes that the result is possible or inevitable. Inevitability means the certainty of causing harm to society. Opportunity presupposes that a person understands the existing chances of consequences occurring. The subjective component is important here, that is, the person’s perception of the expected consequences is taken into account, and not the actual damage caused.

The indirect form of intent in the intellectual sphere almost corresponds to the direct one. With indirect intent, the criminal also understands the threat to society through his evil act and anticipates the consequences. But the difference exists on the basis of will. That is, the will of the criminal is not aimed at a result dangerous to society. At the same time, the person realizes that its onset is possible, but looks at it with a degree of indifference.

Judicial practice takes into account the division of intent into indirect and direct guilt when choosing sanctions and classifying an atrocity.

Features of application

Categories of crimes are important when establishing dangerous and especially dangerous recidivism. Taking into account the classification, the basis for applying liability for such a type of unfinished act as preparation to commit an unlawful behavioral act is determined. Punishment is provided only for planning a serious and especially serious crime. This provision is fixed in Art. 30, part 2 of the Code. Classification into categories of crimes is also considered as a criterion for identifying one of the most dangerous forms of complicity - a criminal community (organization). The features of this type of illegal actions are established in Art. 35, part 4 of the Code. The criteria formulated in Art. 15 for a particular category of crime are taken into account when assigning punishment to convicts in the form of imprisonment in a correctional institution or life in prison. They also act as one of the conditions for removing responsibility from a person. These criteria are taken into account in the process of resolving other issues in the criminal legal sphere.

Other systems

The criminal law of some countries uses a two- or three-element classification. For example, in the Polish Code, illegal acts are divided into serious and misdemeanors. In the Criminal Code of Germany the division is the same. At the same time, an unlawful act is recognized as a crime, the commission of which is punishable by imprisonment for at least a year or more. Misdemeanors are considered behavioral acts for which a more lenient measure is applied to the subject or a fine is imposed on him. The Spanish Criminal Code also divides unlawful acts into misdemeanors and crimes. The latter are also classified into severe and less severe. Depending on this, a more severe or lenient punishment is assigned. The Code of Latvia also establishes a division into misdemeanors and crimes. The latter are classified into three categories: especially and less severe and severe.

Types of intent

Intentional crime, in turn, is divided into several types. The classification is based on three main indicators - psychological content, time of occurrence of intention, ideas about the essence of the act. Accordingly, criminal law distinguishes intent:

straight;
indirect;
planned;
sudden;
definite;
uncertain.

Let's look at each one separately with specific examples.

Straight

Intention is called direct if the person who committed the crime understood the social danger of his action or inaction. Moreover, it foresaw the inevitability or possibility of negative consequences and deliberately wanted them to occur. In simple words, the criminal sought to achieve a certain goal and was clearly aware of it.

Direct intention involves three fundamental elements of the individual’s psyche:

awareness;
foresight;
wish.

The expected result is not guaranteed and may even be unprofitable, but it is obvious and desirable. The accused is recognized as acting with direct intent if he understood the inevitability of negative consequences, and therefore obviously wanted such an outcome of events.

Example: citizen N. goes to kill citizen S. with a shot in the head. In this situation, he understands that the person will inevitably die. It is obvious that he wants to cause his death, that is, he foresees fatal consequences. He, of course, may not hit the target or only wound the enemy, but when planning an action there is a picture of his death.

Preparation, organization, instigation, complicity automatically fall under the definition of direct intent.

Another important nuance is an understanding of the social danger of an offense, an idea of the content, object and circumstances of the crime. In this case, a person does not necessarily seek to kill, but, for example, to gain profit, take revenge, cover up the traces of another act, cause material damage, or simply do nothing.

Indirect

Indirect intent, as stated in the Criminal Code, also applies to deliberate actions. The criminal is aware that he is about to commit an illegal act, which will have negative consequences in the future. But, unlike the direct form, there is no purposeful desire for a bad result, while the person admits its possibility or treats the outcome with indifference.

From a psychological point of view, the indirect form allows the criminal only to foresee possible socially dangerous consequences, but he does not consider them inevitable and does not strive for them. The second option is that he simply does not think about the end result, which is regarded as inaction.

Intention cannot be considered indirect if:

the crime is formal, for example, desertion, extortion;
there is a preparatory stage, that is, planning;
the accused is an instigator, organizer, accomplice;
an attempt has been made;
there is a special purpose for an unlawful act and an awareness of the inevitability of consequences.

An example from legal practice: during a party, citizen D. quarreled with citizen B., after which the latter left. Citizen D. caught up with her on the landing and shot, hitting her in the arm. The shooter in court denied his intention to kill the victim, he just wanted to scare her, and did not even see where he was shooting. Thanks to the witnesses, it was proven that it was dark in the entrance and citizen D. quickly returned to the apartment, not interested in the consequences of his actions. That is, his goal was not murder, and he acted with indirect intent.

Planned and sudden

Depending on the time of occurrence of criminal intent, two forms of intent are distinguished:

planned - a premeditated offense, when a significant period of time passes from the moment of planning to the commission;
sudden - the implementation of the plan occurs almost immediately after the desire to commit an illegal act arises.

A premeditated crime is one of the most dangerous and difficult to solve. The attacker carefully thinks through the plan, develops a strategy, chooses a place and a weapon, and calculates the likely outcome.

Typically, this form of intent is characteristic of cold-blooded and cruel people, prone to repeated violations of the law and public order. An example would be a planned robbery or contract killing, thought out in advance, taking into account all the pros and cons.

There are two types of sudden intent - simple and affective. The first option presupposes an adequate mental state of the culprit and the rapid implementation of the plan. The consequences are clearly understood, but due to the suddenness of the actions, a lot of evidence remains.

For example, citizen T. had an argument with citizen V., as a result of which the former challenged the latter to a fight. Citizen T. is clearly aware that he can injure his offender or even kill him.

A crime in a state of passion is distinguished by the psychological mechanism of the commission of the act. The accused is in a traumatic situation, in prolonged emotional stress, which makes it difficult to control his will. Example: the murder of a friend for sexually abusing the victim's daughter while the news was being reported.

This classification is used as a clarification when determining the degree of guilt in court.

Definite and Uncertain

Another classification of intentions, depending on the certainty of intentions, divides them into two types:

certain or specified - the person is aware of the criminal consequences and purposefully acts to achieve them;
vague or unspecified - dangerous actions or inactions are committed without a clear understanding of the result.

An example of a certain intent: citizen F. inflicted several knife wounds on his partner N. in the heart area. At the same time, he understood that sharp targeted blows would most likely kill the victim.

An example of vague intent: spontaneous fights, during which a person does not understand what harm can be caused to the victim’s health and does not calculate in advance the scale of the consequences.

In criminal proceedings, an alternative subtype of specific intent is conventionally distinguished, when a person considers several outcome options at once. For example, by inflicting blows with a blunt object, an attacker can either injure or kill the victim.