Article 19 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation general conditions of criminal liability and its occurrence

About individuals and legal entities

Another criterion for applying liability is belonging to individuals.
Main aspects of responsibility:

The entire Criminal Code concerns only a person as an individual.
Legal entities are not subject to criminal liability.

The group of people who committed the crime also does not belong to legal entities. And the punishment for a crime committed in a group will be assigned to each of its members individually in accordance with the degree of his guilt.

If a legal entity is involved in a crime, it will be held liable in accordance with the civil and administrative code.

When the unlawful actions of a legal entity are related to a crime, then an official will be responsible for it, but as an individual. Thus, Article No. 19 of the Criminal Code strictly individualized punishment for crimes.

Commentary on Article 8 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

1. Criminal liability is a complex social and legal phenomenon, characterized by the fact that:

– a person who has committed a socially dangerous act containing all the elements of a crime is obliged to give an account to the state of what he has done;

– the verdict expresses a negative assessment of the act and the guilty person;

– the latter was sentenced to punishment and (or) another measure of a criminal law nature;

– there is a specific legal consequence of conviction with serving the assigned sentence – a criminal record.

2. The basis for criminal liability is the commission of a socially dangerous act containing all the elements of a crime.

The corpus delicti is a set of objective and subjective characteristics provided for by criminal law that characterize a socially dangerous act as a crime. Its presence in a specific socially dangerous act serves as a necessary and sufficient basis for bringing to criminal responsibility the person who committed this act.

3. The signs that form the corpus delicti are grouped according to the elements of the crime: the object, the objective side, the subjective side and the subject of the crime.

The object of the crime is the social relations protected by criminal law, which are encroached upon by the crime. The subject of the attack and the victim are closely connected with it.

The objective side means the external manifestation of the crime in reality. It includes: an act, socially dangerous consequences, a causal relationship between the act and its socially dangerous consequences, circumstances of time and place, setting, method, instruments and means of committing a crime.

The subjective side of a crime is understood as the mental activity of a person directly related to the commission of a crime. It forms the psychological content of the crime, therefore it is its internal (in relation to the objective side) side, not directly perceived through the senses. The content of the subjective side of the crime is characterized by such legal features as guilt, motive and purpose.

The subject of a crime is a person who has committed a criminal offense and, in accordance with the law, is capable of bearing criminal liability for it. In accordance with Art. 19 of the Criminal Code, only sane individuals who have reached the age established by law at which responsibility for a given crime begins (general subject) can bear criminal liability.

Let's sum it up

All persons who have committed a crime on the territory of Russia are subject to criminal liability under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The territory of Russia is established by legislation on the state border, continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, as well as international treaties of the Russian Federation.
The issue of bringing to criminal liability persons enjoying diplomatic immunity is resolved in accordance with international agreements of the Russian Federation.
Citizens of Russia and stateless persons permanently residing in it for committing a crime in a foreign state are brought to criminal liability under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation only if they have not previously been brought to criminal liability and convicted of committing a crime abroad.
Citizens of Russia are not subject to extradition to another state in connection with the commission of a crime abroad.

Comments on Article 19

Russian criminal law establishes that the subject of an assault is a sane individual who has reached a certain age.

Comments on the article:

An individual is a citizen of the Russian Federation, a stateless person or with dual citizenship, a foreign citizen. Exception under Art. 11 are diplomatic representatives of foreign states enjoying immunity. If they committed a crime on the territory of the Russian Federation, then they are tried according to international law.
Unlike the criminal law of Europe and the United States, legal entities cannot be subjects of crimes.
Criminal liability for acts dangerous to society is assigned only to individuals who directly committed the crime and were found guilty.
A person is responsible for committing an act, provided that at the time of its execution he was aware of the actual nature and danger of his action or inaction and was in charge of it. This ability is called sanity.
Sanity is related to the age of the person who committed the crime. Since this ability to control one’s behavior depends on development. Age is applied to criminal liability as an objective characteristic of a person. This is not just the number of years lived, but also the ability to understand the meaning of actions or inactions, the ability to manage them.

Criminal law considers crime as a social phenomenon, therefore, based on this, it must be understood that only a person with consciousness and free will can be a subject. This position corresponds to the objectives and principles of legislation, the concepts of punishment and crime.

All prerequisites and conditions of responsibility are interconnected and follow from each other. If a person has reached a certain age, then he has consciousness and will, which are necessary components of sanity and guilt. This implies the basis for criminal liability, the refusal to involve minors, the insane, and legal entities. This is consistent with the principle of responsibility.

The provision applies to crimes in which the perpetrator acts in relation to a legal entity. He carries out the decisions of the collective management bodies of the organization. A number of articles of the law indicate persons who are responsible for the activities of legal entities. This is the manager, the owner of the organization, the subject of deliberate fictitious bankruptcy. Sometimes the circle of responsibility is determined by the type of violations committed and guilt.

Persons to whom liability applies may sometimes be special subjects. More often these are two-objective crimes. The compositions use additional signs that indicate that harm to individual or several objects is caused not just by a person, but by someone included in a special system of legal relations.

Additional characteristics relate to citizenship, gender, profession, age. They become constructive and necessary, rather than optional. If a serviceman violates the duties assigned to him or acts illegally, he is not a subject. For example, female military personnel cannot be tried for violating the rules of the guard service regulations - this prosecution is not provided for by law.

Because of this, it makes sense to talk about the characteristics of a special subject. Thus, within the framework of official crimes, general and special official crimes are distinguished. The relationships between them determine the rules on competition.

Extradition of persons who have committed crimes

Speaking about the effect of the criminal law on a circle of persons, it is impossible not to touch upon the issue of extradition of persons who have committed crimes .

So, according to Part 1 of Art. 61 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and Part 1 of Art. 13 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, citizens of the Russian Federation who have committed a crime on the territory of a foreign state are not subject to extradition to that state for bringing them to criminal responsibility .

Art. 63 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation states that the Russian Federation may, in accordance with international law, grant political asylum to foreigners and stateless persons.

In the Russian Federation, there is no extradition (extradition) to other states of persons who are being persecuted for political beliefs, or for an action (inaction) that is not a crime on the territory of the Russian Federation. The extradition of persons accused of committing a crime, as well as the transfer of those already convicted to serve a sentence in another state, is carried out on the basis of federal law or an international treaty between the Russian Federation and the country to which the extradition takes place.

In this case, we mean foreign citizens and stateless persons who do not permanently reside on the territory of the Russian Federation and who have committed a crime on the territory of Russia or abroad. Therefore, the two above-mentioned groups of persons, according to Part 2 of Art. 13 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and in the presence of relevant international treaties, they can be issued to foreign states to bring them to criminal responsibility or to serve a sentence.

A crime is considered committed on the territory of the Russian Federation if:

the criminal act (inaction) itself was committed on the territory of the Russian Federation and socially dangerous consequences occurred on its territory;
the criminal act (inaction) itself was committed on the territory of the Russian Federation, and the onset of criminal consequences occurred abroad;
the criminal act (inaction) itself was committed by a person abroad, and the onset of criminal consequences occurred on the territory of Russia.

The correct determination of the place where a crime was committed is of great practical importance both for determining the territory of the state where it was committed and for establishing the territorial jurisdiction and jurisdiction of a criminal case. Here, of particular interest to us is the issue of determining the place of commission of ongoing and continuing crimes, as well as crimes, as a result of which a criminal act (inaction) was committed in one place, and criminal consequences occurred in another.

When committing a continuing and ongoing crime, the place of its commission is considered to be the geographical point where the act was stopped or the last action of the ongoing act was committed. When a criminal act was committed in one place, and its consequences occurred in another, then the place of its commission should be considered the geographical point where the action itself (inaction) occurred.

What does judicial practice show under this article?

Since the article does not list the types of punishments, it cannot be said that extensive or limited practice is applied. Every case before the court involves its use to determine whether a person is subject to criminal liability or not.

Examples of cases:

Citizen M., 14 years old, stole several chocolate bars from a store. Security noticed this and stopped her. The girl repented, but management still called the police. Since age was an obstacle to initiating a criminal case, responsibility was shifted to M’s parents. They were given a warning and charged with the obligation to better raise their child in order to never allow such crimes to occur.
Citizen O., walking through the park in the evening, was robbed by an unknown man. He ran up from behind, threw O. to the ground, snatched the mobile phone out of his hands and ran away. He was quickly detained in hot pursuit and a case was opened. At the trial, it turned out that the criminal was insane, he was mentally ill, and therefore could not be held criminally responsible for his actions. He was assigned to compulsory treatment.
Citizen P., being the head of the sales department, agreed with competitors that they would buy goods from him at prices slightly higher than the general price list, but in reality he would carry out prices as in the price list. The profit received was to be divided in half. The director of the company where P. worked found out about this intention and filed a lawsuit. P. was accused of fraud. Since he had reached the required age, was physically fit and sane, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

What decisions are most often made under Article 19?

The article is used to determine age and sanity in order to apply criminal liability against a person. More often, guilty decisions are made on it, but there are also cases where the perpetrator is declared insane or of inappropriate age.

What are most often aggravating and mitigating circumstances?

The article does not provide a definition of what is an aggravating and what is a mitigating circumstance. For criminal law cases, this may be used from the general approved list.

What it is

The norm of criminal law under consideration lists the conditions for the onset of liability. But before we talk about when a person is subject to such responsibility, it is necessary to understand what it is. Many people, hearing the epithet “criminal,” immediately imagine pools of blood and, as a result, a slammed cell door. However, this is not always the case.

The phrase “criminal liability” implies that some acts, due to their consequences, are subject to condemnation from the standpoint of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, therefore, a certain punishment is provided for their commission.

Criminal punishment can be of various types and not always with detention:

Fine of various sizes.
Limitation of the range of positions that a person who has committed a specific crime can hold.
Work of a corrective nature, in which the subject is not isolated from society, but at the same time performs what he was obliged to do.
Seizure of property in favor of the victim, when property belonging to the criminal is confiscated free of charge.
Restriction of freedom is not associated with detention, but determines the need for the offender to comply with certain conditions of movement and action.
Arrest is when a person completely loses freedom of movement and is completely isolated until the court makes a verdict.
Imprisonment awarded for crimes classified as moderate and especially serious, as well as in the case of constant, “chronic” violation of the law.

Today in the Russian Federation the death penalty is not applied even for particularly serious forms of crime.

When liability under the Criminal Code applies

In accordance with the nineteenth article of the Criminal Code, general conditions are defined under which a criminal cannot escape responsibility.

The legislator established three main criteria:

sanity;
age;
belonging to a group of individuals.

The concept of sanity is not defined in the Criminal Code. However, Articles 21 and 22 deal with the concepts of insanity and diminished responsibility. These are those cases that affect the assignment of punishment and, as a rule, significantly change it or cancel it completely.

In case of insanity, according to the law, the subject cannot control his actions or manage them due to the presence of any mental illness. Only a medical expert can determine this. In this case, the subject of the crime may receive exemption from punishment. However, he is unlikely to avoid forced treatment. Accordingly, the absence of such diseases is sanity.

The term “limited sanity” is not used or defined by the legislator, but is actually considered in Article 22 of the Criminal Code. This condition is when a person suffers from a mental disorder, but he may well be considered sane. This fact does not cancel the punishment, but is taken into account by judges when passing a sentence.

When a person declared sane committed a crime in a state of mental disorder, criminal liability is not abolished.

Criminal liability of persons with mental disorders or in a state of altered consciousness

A sane person who, due to a mental disorder at the time of committing a crime, could not fully understand the social danger of his own actions (inactions), their actual nature, or who directs such actions is subject to criminal liability.

A mental disorder that does not preclude sanity is taken into account by the court when assigning punishment and serves as the basis for prescribing medical measures that are of a compulsory nature.

Difficulties or limitations in understanding the actual nature of actions are associated with the presence of mental disorders. The presence of a mental disorder is determined by an expert psychiatrist in forensic psychiatry. The expert has every reason to state the presence of obstacles so that the person can understand the meaning and nature of his behavior. The court must take note of such information.

Determination of the presence of a mental disorder, which does not exclude sanity, allows the court to analyze the degree of impact on criminal behavior. Even if the court recognizes the presence of mental deviation, this does not mean that there will automatically be a reduction in criminal liability.

If a person has committed a criminal offense while intoxicated, under the influence of psychotropic drugs, their analogues, narcotic drugs, potentially dangerous psychoactive drugs, intoxicants, he is subject to criminal liability.

Commentary on Article 19 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Commentary edited by A.V. Brilliantova

The commented article defines the general characteristics of a person subject to criminal liability. This person must be natural, reach the age of criminal responsibility and be of sound mind. These signs form the legal structure of the subject of the crime.

The criminal law of the Russian Federation recognizes only an individual (person) as the subject of a crime. Legal entities are not considered subjects of crime. This approach to resolving the issue of the subject of a crime is not characteristic of the criminal legislation of all countries. In a number of countries, legal entities are also recognized as subjects of a crime (for example, in France, the USA).

The position of the Russian legislator in resolving this issue is due to the fact that only the person guilty of committing a crime is subject to criminal liability. It is the principle of subjective imputation that makes it possible to recognize exclusively an individual as the subject of a crime, since the mental attitude to an act and its consequences is characteristic only of a person. Therefore, even in cases where a crime is committed in connection with the activities of a legal entity, only a person who has committed a socially dangerous act and shown consciousness and will in relation to it can be guilty.

Awareness of the social significance of one’s action and its consequences is characteristic only of man, but not of any person, but of a person who has a certain degree of moral, intellectual, mental development, a certain life experience, which is not acquired simultaneously, but accumulates gradually. A person’s achievement of these positions is associated with the factor of the time of his life in society, the assimilation of accepted (both formally and informally) standards of behavior.

Therefore, the second sign of the subject of a crime is that the person has reached the age of criminal responsibility. Upon reaching this age, the state can demand accountability for socially significant behavior, and the person is able to answer for it.

The third sign of the subject of a crime established by law is sanity. Sanity means the presence of mental health at such a level when a person is able to fully understand the actual nature and social danger of his actions (inaction) or manage them. Bringing criminal responsibility to an insane person would be contrary to the principles of guilt, justice and humanism. That is why the sign of sanity, along with others, is a mandatory sign of the subject of a crime.

In some cases, along with the signs of a general subject of a crime, the legislator uses some additional signs, thereby emphasizing that a special subject is necessary for the presence of a specific crime. The presence of a special subject, on the one hand, limits the range of crimes committed by a general subject, and on the other hand, highlights the specifics of a certain act, correlating its social danger with the properties of the actor.

The indication of a special subject is used quite widely in criminal law. Additional characteristics that define a special subject are very diverse: citizenship, gender, age, family relationships, social status, profession, etc. Thus, the subject of crimes against state power, the interests of public service and service in local government, with certain exceptions, may be only an official, the subject of high treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) - only a citizen of the Russian Federation, etc.

An additional feature of a special subject of a crime is used not only to form any corpus delicti, but also to construct privileged offenses or offenses with aggravating circumstances. For example, the subject of murder by the mother of a newborn child (Article 106 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) can only be the biological mother of the child. Involvement of a minor in the commission of a crime by a parent or teacher is a more serious act compared to the same, but committed by another person (Part 2 of Article 250 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

To summarize, we can say that those listed in Art. 19 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the signs of the subject of a crime are the minimum necessary set of signs that allow us to judge the presence of a general subject of the crime, and the addition of this set with other signs is an indication of the need for a special subject of the crime for specific crimes.

The effect of criminal law on a circle of persons

The effect of criminal law on a circle of persons is determined, first of all, by the principle of citizenship.

According to Part 2 of Art. 27 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, everyone can freely travel outside of Russia. Citizens of the Russian Federation have the right to unhindered entry into the Russian Federation. At the same time, we must not forget that illegal crossing of the state border of the Russian Federation is punishable by law (Article 322 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Issues of movement across the border of the Russian Federation are regulated by the Federal Law “On the procedure for leaving the Russian Federation and entering the Russian Federation” (with amendments and additions), adopted on August 15, 1996. The possibility of traveling across the border creates the prerequisites for the fact that citizens of the Russian Federation and permanent residents of In Russia, stateless persons can commit a crime while outside the territory of the Russian Federation.

The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation regulates the issue of liability of citizens of the Russian Federation and stateless persons permanently residing in it if they commit a crime abroad. In such a situation, the territorial principle of criminal law is supplemented by the principle of citizenship .

In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 12 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, citizens of Russia and stateless persons permanently residing in it who have committed criminal acts outside its borders are subject to criminal liability under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation if the crime they committed is recognized as a crime in the state in whose territory it was committed , and if the persons who committed it were not convicted in that foreign country. If these persons are convicted on the territory of the Russian Federation, their punishment cannot exceed the limit of the sanction established by the law of the foreign state in whose territory the crime was committed.

Also in Part 2 of Art. 12 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation regulates the issue of criminal liability of citizens of the Russian Federation who have committed a crime abroad and who have the status of a military personnel. They are subject to criminal liability under the Criminal Code, unless otherwise established by an international treaty of the Russian Federation.

When determining the operation of the criminal law in space, the universal principle enshrined in Part 3 of Art. 12 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in order to combat international crime. Russia, being the legal successor of the USSR, participates in various international conventions to combat:

genocide,
air terrorism,
counterfeiting,
illegal drug trafficking, etc.

Therefore, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for the rule that foreign citizens and stateless persons who do not permanently reside on the territory of the Russian Federation who have committed a crime outside its borders are subject to criminal liability under the criminal law of the Russian Federation in cases where the crime they committed was directed against the interests of the Russian Federation , and in other cases provided for by international treaties of the Russian Federation, taking into account the fact that these persons have not previously been convicted in a foreign country and have not been prosecuted on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Commentary to Art. 19 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Commentary edited by Esakova G.A.

1. The subject, as one of the elements of the crime, is characterized by the presence of three mandatory characteristics: a) it is an individual; b) sane and c) reached the age at which criminal liability begins.

2. In a number of crimes, in addition to the three mandatory signs, the law specifies additional signs that become mandatory. In this case, the subject of the crime becomes special. Such characteristics include, in particular, gender (Articles 106, 131 of the Criminal Code); increased age at which criminal liability begins (Articles 150, 151 of the Criminal Code); citizenship (Articles 275, 276 of the Criminal Code); official position (Articles 201, 285, 290 of the Criminal Code); profession (Articles 123, 124 of the Criminal Code); special position in relation to the victim (Article 125 of the Criminal Code).

3. A legal entity is not recognized in Russian criminal law as a subject of a crime. If a crime is committed in the course of the activities of a legal entity, it is necessary to identify within the structure of such a legal entity an entity subject to criminal liability. Moreover, such a subject can be defined by law (for example, in Articles 176, 177 of the Criminal Code) or by judicial practice (resolutions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation). In the absence of such clarification, if the crime constitutes a violation of a prohibition or failure to fulfill an obligation addressed to a legal entity, i.e. is associated with legally significant actions in the sense of other branches of law, a special subject is a person endowed by law, court decision, agreement, local act of a legal entity with the rights and obligations to act on behalf and in favor of the legal entity. If the crime does not fundamentally imply a violation of a special prohibition or failure to fulfill a special obligation, but can - albeit in the interests of a legal entity or contrary to them - be committed by any subject (for example, Articles 179, 180 of the Criminal Code), the subject of the corresponding composition is general.

Article 19. General conditions of criminal liability

Commentary on Article 19 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

1. Russian criminal legislation provides for the general conditions of criminal liability necessary to recognize a person as the subject of a crime. The subject of a crime can only be a person who is capable of realizing his actions, directing them, and also bearing legal responsibility for their commission. Individuals include citizens of the Russian Federation, stateless persons, as well as foreign citizens. The specifics of bringing foreign citizens to criminal liability are given in the comments to Art. Art. 11 and 12 of the Criminal Code. According to the criminal law of the Russian Federation, legal entities are not recognized as subjects of a crime.

2. Sanity means such a mental state of a person in which his intellect and will allow him to control his behavior and realize not only the illegality of the act being committed at the time of its commission, but also the ability to bear criminal liability in connection with this. The number of sane persons also includes persons who have some deviations in mental health (anomalies in the psyche), but do not deprive them of the ability to realize the social danger and the illegality of the acts they commit. At the same time, the criminal law gives the court the right to take this circumstance into account when sentencing a person or to use this condition of the subject as a legal basis for prescribing compulsory medical measures (see commentary to Article 97 of the Criminal Code).

3. An important condition is the age of criminal responsibility, failure to reach which allows us to say that there are no legal grounds for bringing a person to criminal responsibility. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has defined two types of age: general and reduced. The general age of criminal responsibility is 16 years, and for some crimes, the list of which is exhaustive, responsibility begins at the age of 14 (see commentary to Article 20 of the Criminal Code).

Sanity and insanity

If the person who committed a socially dangerous act was in a state of insanity at the time of its commission, then he is not subject to criminal liability. In fact, this person could not fully understand the social danger and the nature of his own actions (inactions), or manage them as a result of the presence of a long-term or temporary chronic disorder, a painful mental state or dementia.

If a person in a state of insanity has committed a criminal offense, the court may impose compulsory medical treatment as a punishment, as provided for in the Criminal Code.

A person who is fully aware of his actions (or inactions) during a crime and could direct them is a sane person. A person who committed a crime in a state of sanity, but who, even before the sentencing, fell ill with a mental illness, if as a result of this pathology the person was not aware of his actions and, accordingly, could not direct them, is not subject to criminal punishment. By court decision, compulsory medical measures are applied to such a person. After recovery, such a person is brought to criminal liability.

If a person is found by a court to be of limited sanity, he is subject to criminal liability. Limited sanity is a state of mental disorder when the person who committed the crime could not fully understand or control his actions.

When imposing a sentence, the court may recognize a person as having limited sanity, which may also serve as a basis for imposing compulsory medical measures.