The most cruel and terrible crime that a person is capable of is murder. For such an act, the Criminal Code (CC) of the Russian Federation provides for tougher punishment, up to life imprisonment. How much the defendant will be given for killing a person depends on the reasons for the criminal act, the degree of severity and other circumstances.
Qualification of murders
In accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, crimes are divided into several types, on which the term of imprisonment depends.
- Ordinary murder. The punishment for this category is presented in Part 1 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code. A citizen who commits actions that lead to the death of a person due to malicious intent, revenge, or as a result of a fight is sentenced by the court to imprisonment from 6 to 15 years.
- Aggravated murder. Qualified as especially serious. Considered by Article 105, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. How much they will pay for killing a person depends on the nature of the crime. In the best case, the defendant is expected to be imprisoned for a period of 8 years. At worst, life imprisonment.
- Privileged elements of crime. Such murders are committed in a state of psychological breakdown or unintentionally. They pose less of a danger to society, therefore the sentences are more flexible - from 2 years of restriction of freedom (suspended sentence) to 5 years of imprisonment in accordance with Articles 106-109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Murder by negligence
If the death occurred as a result of the careless actions of the perpetrator, which he did not want to happen, then the actions will be qualified as murder by negligence, the term for it will be 2 years of imprisonment, correctional labor, restriction of freedom or forced labor.
In this case, the person did not foresee, but had to determine the occurrence of such consequences as a result of his actions. And also, if it was foreseen that this would not happen or expected to avoid such an action.
In most cases, murder by negligence is committed on domestic grounds by citizens who drink alcohol and lead an antisocial lifestyle.
The legislation distinguishes separately two qualifications of this crime . Causing death by negligence due to improper performance by the perpetrator of his duties.
There are three separate alternative penalties for committing such an act:
- Restriction of freedom up to three years.
- Forced labor and deprivation of the opportunity to engage in certain activities for the same period or without it.
- Imprisonment for a term of up to three years, with the impossibility of holding a certain position and engaging in certain work, as a result of improper execution of which death occurred due to negligence or without it.
If the death of two or more persons is caused as a result of negligence, the perpetrator will suffer one of these punishments for up to 4 years.
It could be:
- Restriction of freedom.
- Forced labor.
- Prison imprisonment and a ban on engaging in certain activities. It is also prohibited to hold a specific position or without it.
Circumstances of the murder
When pronouncing a final sentence on a criminal, the court takes into account the motives of the crime and the circumstances. Some of them are softening, others, on the contrary, aggravating. It is up to them to decide how much they will give to the defendant for killing a person.
- The state of a killer. Aggravating factors: alcohol intoxication, malicious intent, prior conspiracy. Mitigating: state of passion, insanity, regret about the act, awareness of guilt, readiness to suffer a fair punishment.
- Nature of the crime. Aggravating: intentional, planned, spontaneous or group murder. Mitigating: an accidental crime (negligent), for the purpose of defense, in the performance of duties or assistance in the capture of a criminal.
- Interaction with the investigation. Mitigating: sincere confession, assistance in clarifying circumstances and collecting evidence. Aggravating: resisting arrest, causing harm to government officials.
- Age of the defendant. Persons who have reached the age of 14 at the time of the commission of a crime bear criminal liability. For minors, the law provides for “indulgences” that limit the term of imprisonment.
Problems of qualifying a crime
When qualifying a criminal act, difficulties often arise in which the circumstances of the case are not clear, and the unlawful act contains signs of another offense.
For example, causing death, which occurred with different intent, but even if there are small gaps in time, can be classified as a set of criminal actions, which entails liability under Part 1 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code.
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Article 105. Murder of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
Some criminals consider the murder of a pregnant woman as a murder of 2 persons. In fact, this is not the case; the Criminal Code provides for a separate provision in which there is liability for such a criminal act. The gestational age in this case does not matter.
In addition, when qualifying a crime, special attention is paid to the identity of the victims. If the deceased are civil servants or other persons who were in the performance of official duties, it is established that there are motives for committing such a crime related specifically to their professional activities.
Murder of several people
Typically, a group crime is deliberate. It can be spontaneous or planned, which has no role in sentencing. The murder of several people is considered by Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and provides for severe punishment in the form of imprisonment from 8, and sometimes life imprisonment. How much they will pay for killing a person depends on the motives of the crime. If a murderer takes the lives of several people intentionally, then he is convicted under paragraph “a” of Article 105, Part 2 of the Criminal Code.
In the case when a criminal kills one person, but his actions entail the death of people not involved in the case (in case of poisoning, explosion, shots fired in a public place), the case is considered in accordance with paragraph “e” of Art. 105, parts 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
If murders are committed over a period of time (serial crimes), then Article 17 of the Criminal Code comes into force. In this case, the defendant is convicted for each criminal act, and the term of imprisonment is summed up according to the articles that provide punishment for a specific murder.
Attempted crime
A situation where a criminal intended to kill several people, but managed to take the life of only one, is very difficult. The second victim either survived or was injured. In this case, it is impossible to qualify the crime as “murder of two or more persons”, since all the elements of the crime are not present.
Before the Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was adopted in 1999, an unfair situation arose in criminal law enforcement, when the fact of an assassination attempt turned into a kind of mitigating circumstance. For example, for taking the life of one person in a generally dangerous manner, a criminal can receive the death penalty—life imprisonment.
However, if he intended to kill several people, but was able to kill only one, then such a crime was qualified as “attempted murder of two or more persons.” But life imprisonment was not imposed for him and the offender received no more than 15 years in prison.
The Resolution of the Plenum of the RF Armed Forces dated January 27, 1999 slightly corrected the situation, as it recommended defining such crimes in aggregate. That is, in the described case it was already qualified as a completed murder (Part 1 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and an attempted murder of two or more persons. Accordingly, the punishment for such crimes has become more severe and fair.
Today, criminal law enforcement practice follows exactly the path prescribed by the Plenum of the RF Armed Forces. And finally, we will talk about the term for the murder of two or more persons and what other punishment is provided for it.
Examples of punishment for murder
- How much do they pay for killing someone with a knife? Depending on the circumstances of the crime, the sentence of the defendant depends. If the lawyer proves that such a measure was forced, as self-defense, then the case is considered under Article 108, and the punishment does not exceed 2 years in prison. However, the presence of a bladed weapon during a murder is an obvious sign of a planned crime, therefore, most likely, the term of imprisonment is determined in accordance with Article 105 of the Criminal Code.
- How much will they give for killing a person by beating? Such a crime is considered under several articles, depending on the circumstances. If the beating implied further murder, then the offender is convicted under several points of Part 2 of Article 105, depending on the purpose of the violence. If the beating resulted in the death of the victim due to negligence, Article 111, Part 4 of the Criminal Code comes into force, with a prison term of up to 15 years.
Intentional and unintentional murder
In 2022, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation will strive to get closer to general global standards.
Therefore, the wording “intentional” and “unintentional” murder is absent in modern criminal law. Now murder is interpreted as intentionally causing death.
When it comes to murder, we always mean intent, direct or indirect:
- In the first case, the criminal knows for sure that his victim will die if external circumstances do not interfere.
- In the second case, the killer does not exclude the possibility that the victim may die as a result of his actions.
Many factors can influence judges when making a decision, so it is difficult to predict the final outcome.
A privileged crime, depending on the sanity of the article, can result in a restriction of freedom for the offender for up to 2-4 years or imprisonment for a maximum of five years.
Unlike premeditated murder, unintentional death lacks motive and intent.
Depending on the specific situation that resulted in death, the punishment may be as follows:
- Assignment of correctional labor for a period of 2 years.
- Imprisonment or restriction of freedom for 2 years.
- Imprisonment and restriction of liberty for 5 years in case of unintentional murder due to negligence of two or more persons.
Thus, murder is the most serious crime. The types of murder, as well as the circumstances that provoked it, are very different.
The concept of this crime is disclosed in Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation . The punishment also depends on how the crime was committed.
The maximum term of imprisonment can be awarded for premeditated murder.
Composition, object and subject
In any criminal case there is an object and a subject. In this case, the object is the life of citizens who became victims. The objective side views the action as typical and of a material nature.
The subjective side implies that intent may vary.
This means that it makes a huge difference whether the perpetrator contemplated the murder or whether it happened unintentionally.
The subject is a sane person who was at least 14 years old at the time of the act.
Conditional or real term
When assigning punishment for any crime, including murder, special circumstances that influenced the behavior of the guilty person are considered. Some of them are listed above. However, there are factors in the presence of which a judge will impose a suspended sentence for taking the life of another person.
The court takes into account the defendant's repentance and full admission of guilt in the event that there is any article for murder, except for the 105th.
However, there is an example from judicial practice, when for the murder of an elderly person (they were beaten to death), the guilty migrant from a Middle Eastern country was given an 8-month suspended sentence and a fine of 150,000 rubles.
As a rule, persons who have committed crimes against life for the first time, but who did not want fatal consequences, may receive a suspended sentence.
In the case where the crime was committed by a person who was previously convicted, it is almost impossible to avoid real punishment. Here the crime is considered as a relapse, which in itself suggests that even if there was a suspended sentence before, the convict did not reform, did not think about his situation and committed the serious act a second time.
Assassination
The absence of direct intent is a basis that does not make it possible to qualify the incident as a murder of two or more persons.
If, in the presence of direct intent to commit such an unlawful act, only one victim died as a result of criminal actions, and the death of other persons did not occur due to circumstances beyond the will of the criminal, then the act constitutes a set of criminal activities:
- Attempted murder.
- The final murder of one person.
Murder by exceeding the measures necessary for the successful apprehension of the criminal
Also Article 108 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, but part 2. The legislator does not exclude a situation when it becomes impossible to detain a criminal, and at the same time he poses a direct threat to the life of a law enforcement officer or another person. In this case, if the outcome is lethal for the attacker, the official will not be charged.
However, if the investigative examination establishes that it was completely unnecessary to kill the criminal, then the detainee, according to Article 108 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, faces a punishment of up to 3 years in prison.
Corpus delicti
An object
This is what the act is aimed at, that is, a person’s life and its inviolability.
Subject
This is the person who committed the murder. It must have 3 characteristics:
- age from 14 years;
- capacity;
- sanity.
Objective side
This is a characteristic of the act. The article identifies several of its types:
- simple murder, that is, causing death;
- murder of two or more persons;
- deprivation of a person’s life in connection with his official activities, as well as the murder of his loved ones;
- murder of a child or helpless person;
- deprivation of life associated with kidnapping;
- murder of a pregnant woman;
- deprivation of life in an extremely cruel way, for example, strangulation;
- murder using a method that poses a danger to other people, such as shooting into a crowd;
- deprivation of life for reasons of blood feud;
- murder by a group of people;
- deprivation of life for gain, for example, during robbery;
- murder for hire;
- deprivation of life associated with hooliganism;
- murder, the purpose of which is to conceal another criminal act;
- deprivation of life associated with any violent sexual acts;
- murder motivated by political, national, religious, ideological hostility;
- taking life for organ transplantation.
Subjective side
A crime is committed only with intent. A person realizes that he is breaking the law, foresees the onset of consequences in the form of death and desires their occurrence.
Punishment and liability for murder under Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
Important!
Criminal liability under
Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
begins at the age of 14.
As a punishment under Part 1 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Murder” provides for imprisonment for a term of 6 to 15 years, with or without restriction of freedom for up to 2 years.
Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides a list of qualified elements of this crime:
2 or more persons;
When killing 2 or more people, the perpetrator may be guided by different motives. If one of them is qualifying, then this must be taken into account when sentencing.
As a rule, death occurs at the same time. In practice, there are cases when there is a time gap between deaths. In such cases, it is important to prove a single intent and motive.
If the result of criminal actions was the death of one person and an attempt on the life of another, then this should be classified as the murder of one person and an attempt on the life of two or more.
a minor or other person who is known to the criminal to be in a helpless state, and also if it involves kidnapping;
This qualification sign reflects the special social danger of the act. The state of helplessness is characterized by the fact that the victim, due to his physical condition, age, circumstances (for example, state of sleep), cannot resist the criminal.
in a generally dangerous manner;
If a criminal has the intent to kill one person, but uses means that can cause death or serious harm to the health of others, then his actions will be qualified as generally dangerous. So, this could be the use of bombs, explosives, arson, destruction of dams.
based on blood feud;
Blood feud refers to a custom adopted among certain nationalities, according to which the offended party or the relatives of the murdered person must commit an act of revenge to restore justice.
The public danger lies in the fact that for committing a second crime, revenge may again follow, which ultimately leads to the death of several people.
a woman who was known to the perpetrator to be pregnant;
This composition is classified as qualifying, since not only the pregnant woman, but also the child loses her life.
Important!
The duration of pregnancy does not matter.
a person, as well as his relatives, in connection with the person’s performance of a duty to society or official activities;
Official activity means the fulfillment by a person of his labor duties specified in the employment agreement or contract.
Fulfilling a public duty is the fulfillment of duties assigned to a person in advance in the interests of the state, society or a separate group of persons, or the performance of other socially useful actions. For example, testifying as a witness, suppressing an offense.
Close people include relatives who
with particular cruelty;
Particular cruelty includes the use of torture, torture, mockery, suffering (deprivation of food, water, burning alive) at the time of the commission of a crime. Murder in the presence of relatives of the victim is also considered particularly cruel.
an organized group, or a group of persons by prior conspiracy;
The danger of this act lies not only in the fact that the criminals agreed in advance to commit a crime against him, but also in the fact that the victim is obviously at a disadvantage due to the unequal balance of power.
for selfish reasons;
Selfish motives are those aimed at obtaining material benefits or, conversely, avoiding costs. For the purpose of applying this qualification, it does not matter whether the offender has achieved his financial goal.
Important!
Murder while protecting property is not committed for mercenary reasons.
from hooliganism;
This crime is committed on the basis of disrespect for society and generally accepted moral standards. The actions of the perpetrator are an open challenge to public order.
in order to hide another crime, as well as one involving violent acts of a sexual nature, including rape;
When establishing this sign, it does not matter what degree of severity of the crime the guilty person wants to hide. For the application of this paragraph, it does not matter whether the offender achieved his goal.
Important!
A concealed crime is subject to separate classification.
Murder, which is inextricably linked with rape, can be understood, for example, as causing death when the victim of sexual violence resists the offender.
based on political, racial, ideological, national or religious hatred, or hostility towards a particular social group;
The increased public danger is due to the fact that the criminal encroaches not only on the life of one person, but also on the equality of human rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Main Law of the country, regardless of his race, nationality and religion that he professes.
For the use of human organs or tissues.
This qualifying composition was introduced in 2003; it became a novelty of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in 1996
. This is due to the success in the development of medicine in the field of transplantation.
The motive for this crime is predominantly self-interest, but there may also be careerist motives, or the desire to save the life of a loved one.
Actions regarding the already deceased
In addition to the above methods and directions, there are also acts that are not directly considered murder. For example, dismemberment of a corpse after a person has been deprived of life is classified as desecration of the body of the deceased.
This malicious action is a disposition contained in Criminal Article 244. The murder of a person can be committed by a person who mocks or dismembers a corpse, or it can be the result of the actions of another attacker.
If you are suspected of murdering two or more people
Any accused, even under such a serious charge, hopes for leniency and a mitigation of punishment, and such practice exists. In addition to the main mitigating circumstances, the judge may take into account exceptional circumstances, and the jury may render a verdict of leniency, which can significantly reduce the prison term. Being under our protection, you can be sure that none of these circumstances will be ignored. Call us, and we will do everything to ensure that the sentence is minimal, and if you are innocent, we will achieve dismissal of the case or acquittal.
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