Modern laws are far from ideal, but they are constantly being improved, which serves noble purposes - ensuring the safety of citizens and protecting their rights and freedoms, as well as maintaining public order. Despite all this, human rebellious nature takes its toll, and even in the most tolerant society, there will certainly be someone who will violate its rules. Let's find out more about what an offense is and what its composition is. In addition, we consider what the concept of "object of the offense" means, and also get acquainted with its types.
What is an offense?
Before you deal with the object and subject of the offense, it is worth knowing what the essence of the above concept is.
This term refers to the unlawful action of a competent person that causes harm to another individual in particular or to society as a whole.
This can be called not only an active act, but also passive inaction - that is, a refusal to commit something that is the responsibility of the offender in accordance with the law. For example, the doctor refused to provide assistance to the victim, or firefighters did not extinguish the burning building, the guard did not stop the robber, etc.
When considering this topic, it is worth paying attention also to such a concept as “guilt”. This is the name of the attitude of the person who committed the offense to his act and its consequences.
There are two forms:
- intent (the individual is clearly aware of what he is doing, or approximately admits);
- carelessness (a person does not fully understand the consequences of his act or does not even know that he is breaking the law).
Types of Unlawful Acts
Depending on the level of danger for other citizens of the society, the committed offenses are divided into two types:
- An act is an act that causes minimal harm to society. They are disciplinary (as a rule, connected with the hierarchy of relations in the work collective or poor performance of their duties), administrative (hooliganism, vandalism, etc.) and civil law (they include violation of the order of property and non-property relations).
- Crime is the most dangerous type of crime. It entails not only a violation of social norms and laws, but also causes significant harm (sometimes irreparable) to property or health, and sometimes to the life of one citizen or a whole group of people. This type of offense is often referred to as a criminal offense.
What constitutes an offense?
As you know, any crime or misconduct provides for appropriate punishment. However, in order to be able to bring to justice the person who committed it, it is necessary that the offense had a corpus.
This word refers to the totality of the objective / subjective signs of action or inaction provided for by law, by which it can be qualified as an offense or a crime.
What are the known components of the corpus delicti?
- An object.
- Subject.
- Its objective side.
- His subjective side.
What is called the subject of the wrongful act?
Having considered what elements are included in the offense (object, subject, its objective and subjective sides), it is important to focus on each of them in more detail.
The subject of any crime or misconduct is the person who committed it. This is the name of an individual or a criminal organization whose members have reached the age of jurisdiction (in the Russian Federation 16 years, sometimes 14) and are mentally sane.
Separately, it is worth distinguishing between the subject of crime and the subject of responsibility. In criminal law, this is one and the same thing - a person or a group of people.
And in civilian - not always. Indeed, if the subject has not reached the age of jurisdiction, his parents or guardians bear financial and property responsibility for his actions.
Depending on the severity of the committed, the subject may be called an “offender” or “criminal”.
The subjective and objective aspects of an unlawful act
Knowing what relates to the composition of the offense (object, subject, subjective side and objective side), it is worth learning about the meaning of the third and fourth components.
So, the objective side of an offense or crime refers to signs that describe the outside of its composition.
These include the so-called material composition of the offense: the essence of the committed act, the degree of its social danger, causes and consequences.
One of the main integral signs of the objective side is the presence of the action itself or inaction.
Optional variable features of the objective side include the conditions under which the offense was committed: the place and time, the environment, the method or means, as well as the tool.
In contrast to the objective side, the subjective characterizes a crime or misconduct on its inside. That is, she considers the mental state of the acting individual: purpose, cause, emotional state.
The mandatory features of the subjective side include the subject's guilt and its degree. If it comes to intent, then it is direct and indirect. If the violation of the law was committed through negligence, then it is divided into two types: negligence and frivolity.
The object of the offense is ...
After considering the three components of the crime (or misconduct) it is worth moving on to the main issue. So, the object of the offense - what is it?
This term refers to the values protected by law, tangible / intangible benefits and interests that could be harmed as a result of unlawful acts of an individual or group of persons.
The objects of the offense are not only all types of property, but also personal as well as public safety, order, rights and freedoms of every citizen - that is, everything that the law protects.
In addition to all of the above, the object of the offense is also the state of the environment, as well as the structure of each state. So the violation of the law is not only harming people without good reason (self-defense), but also pollution of rivers, air, deforestation, shooting of wild animals in places not provided for this, etc.
As an example of the object of the offense, one of the most popular crimes in the United States is tax evasion. In this case, public relations in the field of taxes / contributions or other state fees are subject to a tax offense. The subject is a person who has not transferred the statutory amount to the state budget.
Object and subject of unlawful act
Having considered the question: “What is the object of the offense?” - it is worth learning about such a concept close to him as the subject of a crime or misconduct. It is worth remembering that these nouns are not synonyms, although they are close in meaning.
This term refers directly to the very object of the material world, which is affected by the violator of the law. Also in this capacity the body of an individual can act if an assault was committed on him. However, in such a case, such a person-victim is called a victim, although he formally refers to the objects of a criminal act.
The concept under consideration is sometimes distinguished as one of the variable elements of the offense, the rest of them (the object of the offense, the subject of the offense, the objective side and the subjective) are permanent.
It is worth noting that in criminal law an object and an object are always considered together, since the latter is positioned as an optional feature of the former. However, they are not always identified, since the subject of the crime has a clear material essence, but the object does not.
In addition, far from always in the process of committing unlawful acts against him, damage is caused to him.
In turn, the object of a criminal offense, as a rule, is generalized and idealized. These are goods, order, interests, social values, etc.
Quite often, an object plays the role of a kind of dividing line, with the help of which criminal / non-criminal behavior is distinguished.
What is called an administrative violation of the law?
Having examined in more detail all the elements of the criminal action / inaction (subject and subjective side, object and objective side of the offense), it is worthwhile to dwell in more detail on the administrative unlawful act, as well as to learn about the features of its object.
The peculiarity of such a violation of the law is that it is assumed that the individual or legal entity who has committed it should bear not criminal, but administrative responsibility.
Acts of this kind do not pose a particular danger to society, however, they can do some harm to it. Therefore, they are punished less severely. In fact, an administrative offense is not a crime, but an offense.
Each administrative offense includes an object and a subject, objective and subjective parties.
All of these elements are concentrated around administrative law and responsibility.
It is worth paying attention to the fact that morality, public health, ecology, order, etc. can act as objects in this sphere.
The punishment for such acts, as a rule, is fines, warnings, deprivation of any rights or licenses, suspension of the organization, administrative arrest, etc.
After familiarizing yourself with the definition and composition of an administrative offense (object and subject, objective and subjective parties), it is worth stopping at four signs of such an act.
- The presence of action / inaction.
- Their unlawfulness (violation of the norms of administrative or other branches of labor, land and financial law).
- Guilty subject. This means that such acts belong to the category of administrative offense only when one of the forms of guilt of the acting individual takes place.
- The punishment of breaking the law is an administrative responsibility.
Criminal offense (crime) and its object
After we figured out the definition and composition of an administrative offense (object, subject, objective and subjective parties), it is worth considering the criminal act.
It is more dangerous for society as a whole and its representatives in particular than an administrative violation of the law. Therefore, it is punished to the fullest extent of criminal law, up to life imprisonment.
As a rule, illegal acts of this kind are called crimes.
Criminal offenses involve concepts such as criminalization and decriminalization.
The first is the recognition of the action / inaction as criminal (based on its characteristics) and the establishment of criminal liability for it.
In the second case, the opposite is true - the offense is not criminal (that is, misconduct), its signs are excluded from the criminal law, and in addition, the criminal liability for this act is canceled. Moreover, it is allowed to establish another type of punishment for him, for example, administrative.
As for the corpus delicti, its elements are still the same: the object and subject of the offense, its objective and subjective sides.
It is worth paying special attention to some differences. The subject of criminal law can only be an individual, but not a legal entity.
As for the object of the offense, it is not only public interests and relations (the main feature). Optional objects are often present in criminal law. Most often this is a specific individual (victim) or things of the material world (the subject of the crime discussed in the seventh paragraph). It should not be forgotten that the identification of the object and the subject of a crime is characteristic only of criminal law.
Types of offenses
After considering the objects of criminal and administrative law, it is worth learning about their types.
Regardless of the area of responsibility, all types of objects of offenses are classified according to the same principle.
First of all, they are divided into horizontal and vertical views.
The first include the following objects:
- General - all socially significant values (property, environment, security, peace, rights and freedoms, etc.)
- Generic objects - unlawful acts directed against the individual, military service, state interests, security. As well as offenses in the field of economics. Each of these generic subspecies has a separate section in the code.
- Species objects are homogeneous relations within society, which are guarded by the norms located in one chapter of a certain part of the corresponding code.
- Direct - relations within society, which are protected by the norm specified in the article of a certain part of the relevant code.
Horizontal objects are of the following types:
- The main ones are various relations within the society against which the act is directed and which are protected with the help of a specific criminal law or administrative norm.
- Additional - relations within society, which are one of the victims, along with the main object.
- Optional. Such relationships within society do not suffer in all cases, but only in a certain situation.