How is causing minor harm to health by negligence classified?

Crimes are not always committed with malicious intent (part of the composition). Some violations of the law occur unintentionally. They are described in paragraphs of the Criminal Code (CC) of the Russian Federation along with intentional offenses. However, they have some limitations in terms of composition. Thus, the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for causing harm to health by negligence is applied if the victim is seriously injured (grievous harm).

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Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of June 13, 1996 N 63-FZ

Definition of minor harm to health

Causing minor harm to health - injuries that are not life-threatening , do not require long-term treatment (up to three weeks) and do not affect overall ability to work (the maximum limit in this case is up to 10%).

This is regulated by Article 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It follows from this that an action that entailed such consequences (short-term health disorder, minimal loss of ability to work) committed unintentionally refers to the concept of causing minor harm through negligence.

Controversial situations in the investigation of such cases

The investigation of such cases carries many pitfalls. This happens because there are still many options for interpreting the behavior of the accused. There are cases when its intentionality or unintentionality is obvious, but this is not always the case.

An example of a controversial situation: one person pushed another. He fell and hit his head on a concrete slab, which is why he died. The actions of the defendant led to the death of the victim, but if not for an unfortunate set of circumstances, the deceased would have escaped with bruises and abrasions.

Perhaps this would not even fit under the article about minor harm to health. Could the accused even imagine such an outcome? The decision is up to the court.

There are many such and similar situations.

IMPORTANT! Witness testimony, if any, plays a big role in the investigation.

The most common confusion occurs with the following articles:

• Art. 111, part 4 of the Criminal Code, when grievous harm was caused intentionally, and the accused was fully aware of this, but did not think that it would lead to death.
• Art. 105 of the Criminal Code, when a person intentionally caused damage that led to death.

What does "unintentional" mean?

Causing minor harm to health through negligence (unintentional) is an act that has signs of minor harm to health , namely the absence of a threat to life, minimal damage to health, short-term treatment for 21 days, loss of ability to work up to 10% and not having any intent (not direct , nor indirect).

How to prove that this was done through negligence?

To do this you need to collect some evidence:

• recordings from CCTV cameras, recorders, etc.
  Important! It is especially important in case of an accident; a video recorder is often the only thing that can confirm your innocence.
• Witnesses who can testify that the act was committed without intent.
• Other evidence based on the specific situation.

Having collected them, you need to submit them to the investigation and wait for the result. If the evidence is significant and it clearly shows that it was a simple “coincidence” of circumstances, then the court will recognize your innocence and all that threatens you is payment of damages (financial and moral).

Since unintentional harm to health is equivalent to injuries sustained through negligence (these are synonyms), the procedure for refuting one’s guilt is absolutely the same.

Why do this?

Some people think that this is not necessary at all.
In most cases, the police do not want to open cases of minor bodily harm, and the victim cannot always prove that it was intentional bodily harm. But this needs to be proven, and here's why. At a minimum, the victim can sue for compensation for treatment costs and moral damages, and a verdict can be rendered in his favor. Then you can lose a considerable amount of money.

Mitigating and aggravating circumstances

It is not always possible to reach an agreement peacefully...

Liability for causing harm to health through negligence can be reduced if the offender is ready to fully compensate for the damage caused. In this case, we are talking about compensation for real costs and lost profits: if the victim has lost his ability to work, the culprit must pay for the recovery period

In addition, he will have to purchase medicines, pay for hospital treatment and various medical procedures. There are several other mitigating circumstances:

• Minor age. Responsibility for unintentional harm to health comes only from the age of 14; before this time, a child offender can only be registered within the school and registered with the PDN commission. However, even from the age of 14, educational measures are more likely to be applied to a teenager than restriction or imprisonment. For example, if two high school students got into a fight during recess and one injured the other, the case can be resolved by a settlement agreement if the parents of the offender compensate for the harm to the victim.
• Coincidence. If the incident occurred due to circumstances beyond the control of the culprit, he may be released from liability by court decision.
• Pregnancy and the presence of young children under 14 years of age. The court takes into account the interests of the family, and the size of the punishment may be much less.
• Providing medical care to the victim at the scene is an important mitigating factor. If the driver left the scene of the accident and abandoned the victim on the road, he will face a much more severe punishment, even if minor harm was caused.

Another mitigating factor is official dependence - most often this circumstance is taken into account when considering a case of personal injury due to the negligence of officials. The greatest responsibility always lies with the leader, and subordinates may claim that they were simply following orders.

This is committing an offense while performing official duties, committing a crime against a pregnant woman or a young child, an offense while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, etc. All these circumstances lead to more severe consequences for the victim, and therefore the responsibility will be more serious.

What responsibilities are provided?

Liability comes only if you cannot prove your innocence and is regulated by Article 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. When talking about punishment in this case, it is important to consider some points:

• medical signs;
• qualifying signs.

Reference! If the damage is minimal and the signs are not qualified, you will not face serious problems, even if you decide not to prove your innocence or are unable to do so even if you really want to. But the above signs play a big role.

The bodily lungs themselves are divided into the following subcategories:

1. minimal damage that did not entail loss of ability to work and deterioration of health for a certain period;
2. more serious damage leading to more serious consequences.

The first category is the most minimal damage, which disappears in the shortest possible time - 6 days. It could be a bruise, contusion, dislocation, scratch.

The second includes more serious injuries. These are health problems that resolve within three weeks (i.e. longer than 6 days, but not more than 21 days), loss of ability to work up to 10% (partial loss of hearing, vision).

If the victim completely loses sight, hearing, or a finger on his hand, then this will be classified as causing moderate harm to health.

This is due to the fact that the loss of ability to work will be 30%, which is 20% higher than the norm in terms of minor harm to health.

If the victim has the second category of injuries, then this may aggravate the punishment.

Qualifying signs can do the same, these include:

• an atrocity due to which more than 2 people were injured;
• assault while performing official duties;
• if the victim was a minor and could not defend herself;
• a crime that was committed by force or humiliation;
• a criminal group consisting of several people;
• crime committed due to ordinary hooliganism;
• the villain who used the weapon;
• discrimination against religion or race.

Attention! Our legislation provides for liability for minor damage to health from the age of 16, while for more severe injuries (moderate or serious bodily injury) you will have to answer from the age of 14.
There is a clear list of penalties that are applied depending on the specific situation:

1. in the absence of qualifying (aggravating characteristics):
   fine, but not more than 40 thousand rubles;
2. a fine in the amount of three salaries of the person who committed the crime;
3. arrest for up to 4 months;
4. up to a year of correctional labor;
5. up to 480 hours of community service.
6. With the presence of qualifying characteristics:
   imprisonment for up to two years;
7. restriction of freedom for up to two years;
8. up to 360 hours of compulsory work;
9. up to a year of correctional labor;
10. up to two years of forced labor;
11. arrest for up to six months.

As we indicated above, there are several types of bodily injuries (first and second categories) and the degree of punishment also depends on the category, since the second is more severe than the first. Read about liability for causing minor harm to health here.

Punishment

Measures of influence on a criminal guilty of unintentionally causing grievous harm are given in paragraph 118 of the Criminal Code. They are listed in the table below.

Hint: the table shows the maximum penalties.

Problems of differentiation from other elements of crime

The main problem is to distinguish between intentional harm and unintentional harm. This is decided by the provision of evidence from the applicant and the accused. In addition, there are the following options:

• the absence of general signs of the subjective side, object, objective side, but the presence of such applies to the subject. Subject is defined as a person who has reached the age of 16.
  Basically, from the age of 16, responsibility for most criminal offenses begins, with the exception of particularly cruel ones.

  For example, murder or the infliction of intentional bodily harm of moderate or severe degree, so this sign will coincide in many cases, accordingly, delimitation will most likely not occur based on such signs.

• Presence of most common features. For a complete explanation, let’s compare two articles: 115 of the Criminal Code (inflicting minor injuries intentionally) and 112 of the Criminal Code (inflicting moderate injuries intentionally).
  Almost everything in them coincides, the only exception is the degree of damage caused. And accordingly, various medical signs, such as the duration of treatment, loss of ability to work, etc. Such similarity is usually called adjacent; delimitation often causes difficulties, since the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contains many related crimes.
• The presence of minimal common features. Let's compare several articles: 113 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (infliction of moderate harm to health in a state of passion) and 115 (intentional infliction of minor harm).
  Their main common feature is health disorder. There are much more differences: the first case is carried out in a state of passion, the second intentionally, the degree of damage is different, the age at which responsibility begins, and so on. In this case, it is quite easy to distinguish it from other crimes.

Examples

Case 1

Citizen Melnikov K.L. I was driving along the main road in my car. Another car, the driver of which did not consider it necessary to let Melnikov through, flies into the vehicle, as a result - an accident occurs.

K.L. Melnikov was not injured, as he was wearing a seat belt, but the culprit of the traffic accident received two minor bruises and a dislocation. The injuries were classified as minor harm to health.

If his guilt is not refuted, he may face a fine of up to 40 thousand rubles, or arrest of up to 4 months, or correctional labor of up to a year, or community service of up to 480 hours, or a fine of three salaries.

Case 2

Citizen A.P. Konkova was in the office, at her workplace. Leaving her office, she completely accidentally “knocked” the visitor’s door, since he was walking past the doorway just at the very moment when Konkova came out.

The incident was classified as minor injuries, revealing a hematoma on the victim's forehead. If there are security cameras in the office and there was at least one witness during the collision, then she will not bear any responsibility, the maximum that she faces is payment for financial and moral damage.

If she does not prove her innocence, then she faces the same thing as in the case of K.L. Melnikov: a fine of up to 40 thousand rubles, or arrest of up to 4 months, or correctional labor of up to a year, or community service of up to 480 hours, or a fine of three salaries.

Arbitrage practice

Let's look at a few examples of moderate harm to health.

Example No. 1. A dispute ensued between citizen K. and citizen D. During the altercation, citizen D. attacked citizen K. During the fight, citizen D. punched citizen K. several times in the face and in the chest area. After the fight, citizen K. had a broken nose and rib. The court qualified the actions of citizen D. under Part 1 of Article 112 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and imposed a sentence of forced labor for 6 months.

Example No. 2. Citizen M. and citizen S., by prior conspiracy, attacked citizen E. when she was returning home from work. Citizen M. punched Citizen E. twice in the stomach and several punches in the face. Citizen S. struck Citizen E. on the head with a blunt object. During this incident, citizen E. broke her arm, received numerous bruises on her body, and also received a slight concussion after a blow to the head. The crime was classified under Part 2 of Article 112 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The court sentenced citizen M. to imprisonment for a period of 2 years, and citizen S. to imprisonment for 1.5 years.

Infection with sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infection

In contrast to previous legislation, infecting another person with a venereal disease is punishable only if this consequence occurs. Putting one at risk of infection through sexual intercourse or any other means, if infection does not occur, does not entail criminal liability.

The method of infection does not matter - through sexual intercourse or through household means (using shared dishes, linen, towels, etc.).

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The subjective side is direct or indirect intent or frivolity. The law directly states that we are talking about a person who knew that he had a sexually transmitted disease. With direct intent, the perpetrator may be guided by the motive of revenge; with indirect intent, he may be indifferent to infecting, for example, a casual sexual partner. Frivolity can occur when a person takes measures to prevent infection, but these measures turn out to be insufficient (for example, a condom breaks during sexual intercourse). Criminal liability is excluded if sexual intercourse occurred against the will of the patient (for example, during rape).

Subject is a person over 16 years of age who suffers from a sexually transmitted disease.

There will be a qualified crime if two or more persons or a known minor are infected. It does not matter whether the person infected both persons at the same time or at different times. If the victim is a minor, the perpetrator must know about this or, in any case, assume that this person is under 18 years of age.

HIV infection is much more dangerous for humans than sexually transmitted disease. It is not yet curable. Therefore, we can agree with those scientists who consider the object of this crime not only health, but also human life. Taking into account the danger of HIV infection to life, the legislator established liability not only for infection, but also for knowingly putting a person at risk of contracting HIV infection.

The method of committing this crime is not regulated by law, but most often putting people at risk of contracting HIV infection is carried out through heterosexual or homosexual sexual contact or through the use of syringes by drug addicts.

The subjective side is characterized by the person’s awareness that he is a carrier of HIV infection, as indicated by the words “deliberate diagnosis.” This presupposes the presence of direct intent (when the perpetrator wants to infect another person), indirect intent (when he is indifferent to the possibility of infection) or frivolity (when he expects that infection will not occur, for example, due to sterilization, although, as it later turned out, not thorough enough , used syringe).

Subject is a sane individual who has reached the age of 16 and is a carrier of HIV infection.

The qualified elements of this crime are provided for in Part 2 of Art. 122 of the Criminal Code. It is established if the perpetrator infected another person with HIV infection. In this case, to qualify the crime, it does not matter whether the victim has AIDS.

A particularly qualified crime (Part 3 of Article 122) will occur in the case where two or more persons or a minor are infected, and the perpetrator must know that this person has not reached 18 years of age.

Part 4 art. 122 of the Criminal Code provides for an independent crime - infecting another person with HIV infection as a result of improper performance by a person of his professional duties. The only common consequence of the crime provided for in parts 1-3 of this article is HIV infection.

The subject of this crime is a medical worker involved in the transfusion of donor blood, the use of medical instruments or in contact with HIV-infected persons.

The objective side of this crime is expressed in the improper performance by such a person of his professional duties, violation of official instructions on the secondary use of medical instruments, their sterilization and other measures to prevent HIV infection.

Subjective side - negligence in the form of frivolity or negligence

Left in danger

Providing assistance to a person in danger is the moral duty of any person. However, in some cases the law imposes such an obligation under penalty of criminal penalties.

The objective side of the crime is that the perpetrator did not provide assistance to a person who was in a life-threatening or health-threatening condition and was deprived of the opportunity to take measures for self-preservation due to childhood, old age, illness or due to his helplessness. In this case, it must be established that the perpetrator had the opportunity to provide the necessary assistance to this person and, in addition, was obliged to take care of him (for example, parents are obliged to take care of their children) or he himself put him in a condition dangerous to life or health.

Specifically, this could be the leader of a tourist group who abandoned tourists in the mountains during a thunderstorm, a swimmer who persuaded his friend to swim across the river, promising him help, and left him, a driver who hit a person due to the gross negligence of the victim (if the driver was guilty of accident, liability arises for leaving the scene of a traffic accident (Article 265 of the Criminal Code), etc. The corpus delicti will be completed when the person could have provided assistance, but did not do so

The crime will be completed when the person could have provided assistance, but did not do so.

The subjective side is direct intent. Subject - a person who has reached 16 years of age and is obliged to provide assistance to the victim.

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