scholarly journals On the Definition of the Concept of Crime in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Author(s):  
Alexander Smirnov

The author presents his views on the definition of the concept of «crime» in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation because this concept is of primary importance to the whole structure of criminal law and the practice of crime counteraction. He provides a consistent analysis of the socio-legal nature and the feasibility of each constituent element included in the definition of crime: 1) action; 2) public danger; 3) guilt; 4) unlawfulness (criminal); 5) threat of punishability. When defining the concept of «crime», the author starts from the premise that, according to the methodology of formulating fundamental law concepts, their definitions should include only the most important, constant and universal characteristics (attributes) that are not disputable and that support the ontological essence of the concept and never, under any circumstances, refute it. The author concludes that the action and its prohibition in the criminal law are independent and constant elements of crime. Guilt and threat are not always such elements. The indication of guilt is included in the necessity of establishing the constituent elements of a crime to prosecute a person. Public danger, according to contemporary research, is an element of all offenses, besides, it is inherent to criminal unlawfulness. That is why the definition of the formal concept of «crime» should be presented as following: «A crime is an action prohibited in the present Code». This definition, according to the author, fully corresponds to the language of law, is laconic and substantial, excludes contradictory interpretations and fully agrees with the principle of inevitability of criminal punishment, which is of great importance for the effective implementation of criminal law measures of crime counteraction.

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 129-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Назаренко ◽  
Gennadiy Nazarenko

In the article anti-corruption policy is considered in criminal law and in the preventive aspects. The definition of anti-corruption policy by legal means is given. It is shown that the most significant and effective tool in this direction (kind) of policy is the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. However, the preventive potential of criminal law is not enough. The law does not cover a lot of corruption manifestations, which are involved in the use of any official status, its authority and opportunities. Up to the present time criminal law is not given with the accordance of the Federal Law «On combating corruption» from 25.12..2008 №273-FZ (as amended on 22.12.2014). Criminal law measures applied to corrupt officials, have palliative nature: they are based on the concept of limited use of criminal law and mitigation of punishment. The author makes a reasonable conclusion that more effective implementation of anti-corruption policy requires the adoption of new criminal law which contains the Chapter on corruption crimes, sanctions of which must include imprisonment as punishment as well as confiscation of property or life deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or to be engaged in certain activities.


Author(s):  
E. N. Barkhatova

The paper is devoted to determining the moment of criminal responsibility and its content. The positions existing in science and practice are analyzed. The point of view on the occurrence of criminal responsibility at the moment when a person is being charged with a crime is substantiated. This opinion is supported by an analysis of Art. 299 and 305 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The relationship between the characteristics of the subjective side of the crime and the emergence of criminal responsibility is demonstrated. The content of criminal responsibility has been examined both in the criminal law and in the criminal procedure aspect. The emergence and termination of criminal responsibility, as well as its content, are examined, inter alia, through the prism of the grounds for relief from it provided for in Sec. 11 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Other measures of a criminal legal nature have been studied as constituting criminal responsibility. The issue of the possibility or impossibility of including them in the content of criminal responsibility has been resolved. The classification of the components forming the content of criminal responsibility is proposed. The definition of criminal responsibility is formulated, which, according to the author, should be enshrined in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.


Author(s):  
Aleksandr Ilidzhev

The article examines the legal nature of preparation for a crime, provides a conceptual and terminological analysis of this category of criminal law. The work is devoted to the study of reflection of the provisions of the general criminal law concerning the regulation of the institution of preparation for a crime in its special part. The study, taking into account different views in the theory of criminal law, provides the author’s definition of the actual preparation for a crime. As a result of the study, it is confirmed that when determining the prescriptions of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, reflecting the actual preparation for a crime, it is necessary to proceed from the fact that they should not establish an independent crime, but an act that constitutes the creation of conditions for the commission of this crime. When deciding whether to classify an act as an actual preparation for a crime, it is proposed to use the method of mentally excluding the relevant prescriptions from the criminal law. The author demonstrated the application of this method by the example of the compositions of the Special Part, namely Art. 146, 150, 159, 1596, 1711, 1732, 186, 187, 1911, 2051, 2054, 209, 210, 211, 212, 234, 2341, 238, 239, 242, 2421, 2422, 276, 2821, 2822, 2823, 3271, 3272, 353, 359, 361 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which in his opinion represent an exhaustive list of options for reflecting the actual preparation for a crime in the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.


Author(s):  
Oleg Gribunov ◽  
Gennady Nebratenko ◽  
Evgeny Bezruchko ◽  
Elena Millerova

The authors examine the specific features of criminal law assessment of involvement in prostitution and the organization of this activity through the use or the threat of violence. At the beginning, they stress the urgency of counteracting the social phenomenon of prostitution, analyze the very concept of «prostitution», its debatable and problematic aspects, because it is impossible to offer a correct qualification of criminal actions connected with prostitution (crimes under Art. 240 and 241 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) without determining the boundaries of providing sexual services specifically referring to the term «prostitution». It is concluded that the key problem for determining the scope of sexual actions described by the term «prostitution» is the lack of an official definition of this term in Russian legislation as well as a wide variety of services in the modern sex industry. The authors state that the understanding of prostitution as a historical social phenomenon as a situation when a woman provides sexual services to different men by performing sexual acts with them for previously discussed material compensation is outdated and does not reflect the multiple dimensions of modern prostitution. While researching the issues of qualifying criminal acts connected with prostitution and involving the use or the threat of violence within the framework of this article, the authors have analyzed the work of both Russian and foreign scholars and studied examples of investigation and court practice. They examine the problems of legal assessment of criminal law categories «violence» and «the threat of using violence» regarding publically dangerous actions connected with the involvement in prostitution and the organization of this activity. The authors present the criteria of differentiating between corpus delicti where such actions are criminally punishable and other corpus delicti, as well as the cases that require qualification for multiple crimes. The results of this research allowed the authors to work out and present recommendations on qualifying criminal actions connected with prostitution and involving the use of the threat of violence.


Author(s):  
K. N. Aleshin ◽  
S. V. Maksimov

The problems of interpretation of criminal law and administrative law institutes of active repentance (“leniency programmes”) in relation to cartels are considered.The definition of the effectiveness of the institution of active repentance is given as the ability of this institution to achieve the goals stipulated by law (in the aggregate or in a particular combination): 1) termination of the committed offense (crime) (“surrender”),2) assistance in investigating the relevant administrative offense (crime), 3) compensation for the harm caused by his offense (crime), 4) refusal to commit such offenses (crimes) in the future.The condition of the quadunity of these goals is investigated. It is noted that among the main factors reducing the effectiveness of administrative law and criminal law institutions of active repentance (“leniency programmes”) in relation to a cartel is the legal inconsistency of these institutions.Proposals are being made to amend par. 3 of the Notes to Art. 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Note 1 to Art. 14.32 of the Code of the Russian Federation Code of Administrative Offenses iin order to bring together the relevant institutions of active repentance.The necessity of legislative consolidation of general procedural rules for the implementation of the person who participated in the conclusion of the cartel, the law granted him the right to active repentance is substantiated.


Author(s):  
D.R. Kasimov

The article provides a new classification of evaluative concepts enshrined in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, indicates the purpose of its existence in the doctrine of criminal law. The article describes the definition of constitutive evaluative concepts that are determined as legislatively vague evaluative concepts that, by their normative-essential and functionally-substantive characteristics, are absolute, necessarily alternative, or accompanying structural features of a crime. Through the prism of the features of constitutive evaluative concepts, their varieties, essential features and functions are distinguished; interpretation (including cognitive) meaning is revealed. Moreover, the interpretation features of these evaluative concepts are considered in two interdependent aspects: the structurally-essential (associated with the types, attributes and functions of constitutive evaluative concepts) and the procedural-substantive (associated with the informative and informative activities of the interpreter). It is indicated that the interpretation features of an structurally-essential nature are, firstly, in the composition and criminogenic properties of constitutive evaluative concepts, and secondly, in the semantic structural composition, indicating a meaningful dependence of the evaluative concept on the accompanying structural features of a crime, and thirdly, legally significant functional features. At the same time, interpretative features of a procedural-substantive order are also highlighted, which include, firstly, the need for a paramount definition of the criminogenic determinant, designed to establish the structural features of a crime in a perfect act, and secondly, in an increased degree of normative casuistic derivative of these evaluative concepts. The author comes to the conclusion that constitutive evaluative concepts are interpreted according to the same logical-linguistic and legal laws, but with some marked structurally meaningful features.


Author(s):  
M.N. Vilacheva ◽  
N.V. Yashkova

The questions of qualification and investigation of theft of goods from the rolling stock are revealed. The main factors causing qualification of such crimes under articles 158, 159 and 160 of the Criminal code of the Russian Federation are investigated. The obligatory signs of crimes, such as time, place, means of commission of crime, the size of the stolen property are revealed. Reasonable conclusions are made that the qualification of theft of goods from the rolling stock of railway transport, as well as the definition of the circle of persons potentially involved in the commission of the crime, is largely influenced by the place and time of the crime, the circumstances (type of car, other features), the amount of stolen property, means of committing the crime. The analysis of the practice of qualification of thefts from the rolling stock of railway transport shows that in various investigative situations it is necessary to speak about its private varieties that will allow to qualify a crime more precisely and to organize the process of proving more effectively. It is concluded that for the most complete qualification of crimes related to the theft of cargo from rolling stock cars a thorough analysis of the circumstances that influenced the initiation of a criminal case, as well as investigative situations, is of particular relevance. Proposals were made to improve the norms of the criminal law.


Author(s):  
Андрей Владимирович Кулаков ◽  
Александра Юрьевна Болотина

Статья посвящена исследованию природы соучастия в преступлении как самостоятельного института уголовного права. Признавая институт соучастия одним из дискуссионных в уголовно-правовой доктрине, авторы отмечают, что в настоящее время спорным является вопрос о юридической природе соучастия, решение которого имеет не только теоретическое, но и практическое значение, заключающееся в обосновании ответственности соучастников преступления при вынесении судебного приговора. Правовая природа соучастия в преступлении проявляется в том, что данный институт определяется нормами уголовного права и тем самым представляет собой особое уголовно-правовое явление, характеризующееся рядом существенных признаков. Основная функция института соучастия как уголовно-правового института заключается в обосновании уголовной ответственности лиц, оказывающих содействие в совершении преступлении. В настоящее время в доктрине выработано две теории, обосновывающие правовую природу соучастия в преступлении: акцессорная теория и теория самостоятельной, независимой от других соучастников ответственности. Проведенный в статье анализ научных концепций и мнений позволяет утверждать, что в настоящее время соучастие в преступлении представляет собой самостоятельный институт уголовного права, закрепленный в нормах Общей и Особенной частей УК РФ, имеющий многоаспектный характер, выражающийся в зависимости от обстоятельств совершения деяния и преступного результата в одних случаях в акцессорной природе ответственности соучастников преступления, в других - в самостоятельной ответственности соучастников преступления. Именно при сочетании акцессорности и индивидуализации ответственности лиц, совершивших преступление, возможна всесторонняя и полная оценка правонарушающего поведения субъектов, а также назначение справедливого наказания. The article is devoted to the study of the nature of complicity in a crime as an independent institution of criminal law. Recognizing the institution of complicity as one of the controversial ones in the criminal law doctrine, the authors note that at present the issue of the legal nature of complicity is controversial, the solution of which has not only theoretical but also practical significance, consisting in justifying the responsibility of accomplices in a crime when passing a court sentence. The legal nature of complicity in a crime is manifested in the fact that this institution is determined by the norms of criminal law and thus represents a special criminal law phenomenon characterized by a number of essential features. The main function of the institute of complicity as a criminal law institution is to substantiate the criminal liability of persons assisting in the commission of a crime. Currently, two theories have been developed in the doctrine that substantiate the legal nature of complicity in a crime: the accessory theory and the theory of independent responsibility, independent of other accomplices. The analysis of scientific concepts and opinions carried out in the article allows us to assert that at present complicity in a crime is an independent institution of criminal law, enshrined in the norms of the General and Special parts of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, having a multidimensional character, expressed depending on the circumstances of the act and the criminal result in some cases in the accessory nature of the responsibility of the accomplices of the crime, in others - in the independent responsibility of the accomplices of the crime. It is with the combination of accessory and individualization of responsibility of persons who have committed a crime that a comprehensive and complete assessment of the offending behavior of subjects is possible, as well as the appointment of a fair punishment.


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 212-218
Author(s):  
V. V. Narodenko

The article describes provisions which are in the first note to Article № 158 of the Criminal code of the Russian Federation and also signs of embezzlement enshrined in criminal legislation of the Russian Federation. Literal interpretation of the specified provisions of the Criminal code of the Russian Federation leads to a conclusion that things having physical expression and sign of corporality can act as a subject of embezzlement. Meanwhile the author of the article criticizes provisions of the criminal law. The author states thesis that despite the instruction in the Criminal code of the Russian Federation on obligation of harm causing to the owner by embezzlement, not only things but also other property can be as a subject of specified criminal encroachment. The article also describes arguments about illegal withdrawal of separate non-material things. Analyzing judgments it is possible to say that practice interprets the first note to Article № 158 of the Criminal code of the Russian Federation in broad. It is necessary to understand as property not only things but also other benefits, in particular, non-cash money on bank accounts, paperless securities. Thus, despite difficulties, illegal actions for withdrawal of specified benefits judicial and investigative practice are qualified as embezzlement. These conclusions can be extended to situations connected with illegal withdrawal of other objects which are property but without material expression. The author suggests changing the existing definition of «embezzlement» and replacing the concept "owner" with the uniformed term “possessor of a right”.


Author(s):  
Anatoly Naumov

In both normative and sociological senses criminal law includes three components — criminal legislation, judicial practice, and criminal law doctrine, and the development of this branch of law is possible only in their unity. The criminal law doctrine is to a certain extent superior to the other components of the "triad" and involves the development of the branch’s principles, goals and objectives. At the same time, the improvement of criminal law is not the only goal of the theory of criminal law. It should not be limited only to criticism of the current legislation and proposals for its improvement. However, the vast majority of modern domestic criminal law publications, such as monographs, articles in legal periodicals, dissertations, are devoted to criticism of the current Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Indeed, the current criminal law is not perfect, but the "imbalance" of research into the "law-making" side significantly reduces the scope of criminal law doctrine. And there will always be demand for theoretical studies on the analysis of the subject and method, system and objectives of criminal law, its sources.Debatable, for example, still is the issue of the legal nature of the decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and, in particular, the judgments of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. The explanations of the Plenum of the Supreme Court are a special kind of judicial interpretation and a fairly reliable tool for the courts to understand "the letter of the criminal law" and it’s applicability to the particular case. As for the assessment of the legal nature of the judgments of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the criminal law doctrine often fails to notice that they touch upon the methodological problems of the theory of criminal law. In relation to a number of criminal law prohibitions, judgments of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation are a source of criminal law, along with the Criminal Code. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation specified the most important principle of criminal law — the principle of legality and clarified the characteristics of criminality of socially dangerous acts prohibited by criminal law, which is directly related to the issue of criminal liability. In this sense, the Constitutional Court formulated a new and important addition to the content of the principle of legality — the certainty of criminal law rules, and, first of all, the criminal law prohibitions. Thus, the judicial authority overtook the criminal law doctrine in solving one of the most important issues for criminal proceedings.


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