Motive and purpose of the crime, their criminal legal significance

A motive in criminal law is an internal impetus to achieve a certain socially dangerous result that makes a person decide to commit an offense.
All crimes have grounds, direct or indirect intent, and the committed act (inaction) also has its presence. But if an offense is committed through negligence, it will be incorrect to attribute criminal motivation and goals to it. Multi-channel free hotline Legal advice on criminal law. Every day from 9.00 to 21.00

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The subjective side of a crime in criminal law

During the life process of an individual, he performs various actions that lead to certain results.

The subject may experience the following emotions:

1. Indifference.
2. Chagrin.
3. Anger.
4. Anger.

He is driven by a certain motivation and goal aspiration. All of this is considered illegal behavior.

The subject is brought to legal responsibility for his real criminal acts, carried out consciously of his own free will. By this, a person expresses a negative attitude towards the interests of individuals and the public.

The subjective side of a crime in legal law is an unchangeable, generally obligatory element of any criminal act. The side can be determined by the nature of the psycho-emotional attitude of the offender to the socially dangerous act committed.

The person conducting the investigation must take into account:

• the motive of the offender;
• determination;
• internal state.

The subjective side includes two main elements:

1. Guilt.
2. Target.

The first element must be present to evaluate the action.
The second element allows you to simply determine whether to mitigate or aggravate the punishment. The subjective side is indispensable as an evidentiary part of pre-trial proceedings.

With her help:

• legal violating actions (inactions) of the subject are determined, but guilt is considered the fundamental foundation;
• any illegal acts are classified;
• crimes are separated from each other (administrative from labor).

With the correct determination of the content of the objective element of the violation, a precise qualification of the act is made, the boundaries of legal retribution are determined, based on the specifics of the goal, motivation, and guilt.

The subjective side of an offense includes a person’s psycho-emotional attitude towards the crime he has committed, characterized by certain forms of guilt, motivation, and goals.

Terminology

It should be noted that there is no such definition as “subjective side” in the legislation. However, it is revealed through the use of a number of terms. Let's consider what the subjective side includes:

• Motive of the crime. It represents the impulse that provokes the determination to commit an offense.
• Purpose of the crime. It reflects a person’s idea of ​​the desired result that he strives for by breaking the law.
• Guilt. It expresses a person’s mental attitude towards his own act, which poses a danger to society (action or inaction) and entails consequences.

Ignoring any sign of the subjective side can lead to objective imputation. In other words, an innocent person will be held accountable.

Subjective side

Wine is one of the leading components of the party, but it is not limited to it.

The investigation takes into account:

• strong-willed;
• the intellectual aspect of guilt.

The emotional form of guilt is not taken into account. This is explained by the difficulties of research in determining the real psycho-emotional position of the offender.

When establishing guilt, it is first determined:

1. Is the person aware of the actual nature and social danger of his act (inaction).
2. Did he foresee the possibility or inevitability of his socially dangerous actions?

Together with a person’s existing guilt, his volitional qualities and behavior when committing socially dangerous actions are compared. It is important to determine whether a legal violation was a free act of manifestation of will or whether a person was limited by certain circumstances, internal or external influences that impede the free expression of will.

The principle of guilt states that a citizen who has committed a criminal act (inaction) is personally responsible for its commission.

Criminal law does not recognize responsibility for the actions of other persons, which excludes a legal response:

• parents for children;
• children for their parents;
• husband for wife and vice versa.

There is also a prohibition against bringing a person to legal responsibility for innocent harm. If such an action was taken in relation to a obviously innocent person, then such an act is punishable in accordance with Article 299 of the Criminal Code and Art. 28 of the Criminal Code.

Specification of the definition

The above points of view are to some extent close to the psychological term. In this regard, they can be considered quite general. Since the meaning of the motive and purpose of the crime, ideas about methods of achieving the result in an illegal way or with the possibility of realizing the alleged danger to society and the likelihood of responsibility for the crime (as a rule, a person expects impunity in such cases) are interconnected, the first can be defined as a deliberate desire to illegal action.

In this case, the definition can be further specified. The motive for a crime acts as a conscious impulse that guides a person when breaking the law. In other words, it represents the source of action, the internal driving force of a person, determined by the interests and needs of motivation. This source causes a person to need to break the law. In this case, needs should be considered everything that is necessary for normal life, but that a person does not have. These can be moral, material, intellectual and other values. At their core, the motives for committing a crime make it possible to determine the true nature of the violation. In this case, the illegal action itself acts as an objectification of one or another motivation.

Types of guilt

The types of guilt include intent - this is the most dangerous type of act for the public due to the conscious decision of the criminal to commit an offense in which he knows about the negative consequences that will entail.

Intention can be direct or indirect:

1. Direct intentions include persistent, purposeful actions (inactions) of a citizen intent on committing an offense and knowing the consequences (entering a residential premises for the purpose of stealing, robbery).
2. Indirect intentions have certain differences. They are also considered a highly socially dangerous species. The identity of the intellectual aspect lies in a person’s understanding of his illegal acts. The volitional component in this intent is explained by an indifferent attitude towards the result, but the likelihood of their occurrence is not excluded. The offender directly and clearly focuses on the goal, motivation, action, possible consequences for him, not a stopping point.

The investigator’s task will be to accurately determine the type of intent; for example, an attempt is considered direct intent. It is also necessary to correctly establish the individuality of the person’s role in the criminal act, whether he was a perpetrator, an assistant, or an organizer.

Guilt refers to a person’s psycho-emotional state in relation to the offense he has committed and its consequences, expressed in intentionality or negligence.

Criminal frivolity. The concept of the subjective side of an offense includes types of illegal actions committed due to negligence. Its most common form is called criminal frivolity, which is characterized by the fact that a citizen clearly understands the likelihood of a negative outcome, but he recklessly believes that it will not occur.

Data that includes criminal frivolity:

• opportunity;
• skill;
• professional ability;
• moral trait.

Although they are unfounded.
The explanation of the intellectual moments in this case is possible by the fact that the subject understood the likely occurrence of a negative outcome, and the volitional one is explained by the subject’s belief in its prevention. The frivolity of a criminal cannot be called indifferent to any consequences; he has no desire to implement them, he carries out his actions with confidence. Criminal negligence. It does not apply to particularly socially dangerous forms of crime. A person does not foresee a negative outcome, but due to his professional or other duties he must and can do it.

There are several main points that define this act as criminal negligence:

1. Duty. The content of professional, contractual, and other duties that require increased concentration from a person, predicting all possible outcomes.
2. Opportunity. It matters that the person objectively understood the occurrence of probable damage.

Briefly, an example can be taken of official forgery, which consists in the entry by a person holding a position into official documentation of knowingly false information, but these actions were committed due to selfish or personal motives. It happens that a similar action, but committed for a different purpose than indicated in the article, is not considered an offense.

The subjective side of a legal violation in legal law is determined by the investigator. Practice shows that the most experienced professional can distinguish between negligence and accident. This means that the citizen did not foresee the occurrence of negative outcomes that no one expected, but they occurred due to an incident.

Some articles of legal legislation contain a mixed or double form of guilt. The investigator first establishes the initial intent.

The most common example is infliction of grievous bodily harm: the subject inflicted injuries on the victim that led to his death, then this offense is considered intentional, since it is characterized by purposefulness - mutilation of a citizen.

The investigator can rule out the intention of the perpetrator to cause death rather than bodily harm to the victim. The difference is fundamental because of these actions, covering different elements of the offense, article, and differences in the severity of the punishment. The act of the perpetrator may be viewed differently, where his guilt will be determined through the prism of the victim’s health status. To do this, a forensic medical examination of the corpse is required.

The perpetrator actually caused certain injuries, but did not intend to cause death. However, the death of the victim occurred:

• due to poor health;
• due to a certain feature of the body, which the perpetrator, naturally, did not know about.

Then this act refers to the infliction of grievous bodily harm without signs of causing death.

The goal of an offense is an internal model of the desired outcome; a person strives for it when committing a crime.

Motive of crime concept and meaning

In this interpretation, motivation is an incentive, a reason for some action. At the heart of a person’s varied lifestyle are some incentives that determine the social calculation and target direction. The significance of motives in human behavior is diverse. First of all, it has an incentive role; the subject’s activity increases and actions are stimulated.

But even real circumstances do not determine the unambiguity of the subject’s actions; they are always purposeful and selective. A citizen independently chooses actions in accordance with circumstances, personal intentions, and inclinations.

An important component of the subjective side of a legal violation in a jurisdiction is the motive for a socially dangerous action. Correctly recognizing its essence as a qualifying mark is of the most important theoretical and practical importance for legal liability. Reason is a psychological concept that reveals the inner nature of human actions, their nature.

General psychology connects it with the needs of the person:

• primary (natural);
• secondary (material, spiritual).

The motive reveals the true content of a socially dangerous act. It characterizes a socially dangerous act and the personal data of the offender. A correctly established specific basis sometimes dramatically changes the legal assessment of the crime committed.

The motive for offending behavior includes association:

• reasons;
• motivational factors;
• inner beliefs.

Causing a desire in the subject to satisfy them with the help of a criminal act. A need closely related to a person’s upbringing, nature, and moral qualities.

Types of motives in Russian criminal law, their classification is taken from scientific psychology. They are attached to criminology:

1. Negative motive. Characterized by an antisocial, base coloring: selfishness, anger, self-interest, revenge, hatred, envy. They almost always involve aggravating circumstances.
2. Neutral motive. Characterized by unemployment, a state of apathy, boredom.
3. Positive motive. It is interconnected with altruism and kindness, but this does not mean the exclusion of criminal liability, but they can mitigate the punishment. An example is a specific positive motive – euthanasia. A patient who was deprived of his life by a nurse with humane motives, who succumbed to the requests of the doomed man to help him die painlessly. Yes, a criminal act was committed, even though he had good intentions.

Motives are inherent in any legal violation. The science of jurisprudence does not consider the essential significance of what formed the basis of the committed acts, what psychological aspects are involved in it.

Psychological motives, moments:

• need;
• interest;
• wish;
• aspiration;
• value setting.

In the course of qualification, acts can easily act as a motive for a legal violation. For example, jealousy is noted by psychologists as a feeling; according to legal laws, when a murder is carried out on its basis, it is considered the basis of a criminal act.

The motives for an offense include an internal drive to achieve certain socially threatening results that make the subject decide to commit an offense.