Under the object of the crime is understood that social relation, which is under the protection of the current criminal law, to which the criminal act in one way or another does certain harm or simply creates a threat.
The concept of the object of crime
The Criminal Code lists possible objects of crime. In the first place on the list is the most important object - the rights and freedoms of all people. This list cannot be called stable, as it changes quite often. Changes largely depend on the socio-economic relations that exist in the country for a given period of time. Of course, society is developing, which means that new groups of social relations are emerging, which should be regulated by criminal law. It is also worth noting that from time to time decriminalization of acts previously classified as criminal.
The object of a crime must be studied first of all for the reason that it is a significant element of the corpus delicti. This means that before blaming a person for something, it is necessary to establish what kind of social relations he harmed by his deed. The object of the crime is absent - there is also no criminal case. It is worth noting that it allows you to share similar elements of crime.
In general, it is necessary to understand that the gravity of the crime directly depends on the significance of its object. An example is the fact that capital punishment can be applied only for a crime that was committed against the person.
Often the object of crime is confused with the subject. What is a crime subject ? This is the very property for which the person committed a specific act. An example is the situation when the object of a crime is a property relation, and the subject is an old vase. During the commission of a crime, certain social relations are still harmed, but the subject may not be harmed at all. He should not be confused with the victim, since the latter can only be a person.
There is a separation of the objects of crime. At its core is a circle of social relations suffering from committed acts. The object of a crime may be:
- direct;
- species;
- generic;
- common.
A common object is the totality of all social relations under the protection of criminal law. Under the generic understand social relations of the same kind, in a certain relationship with each other and suffering from attacks of homogeneous crimes. This object is a division criterion for the Special part of the current Criminal Code.
A specific object of a crime is nothing more than a combination of identical and similar social relations belonging to the same species. Here, if harm is caused to one social relationship, others suffer from it. As an example, we can mention the fact that, while attempting to infringe on human health, a criminal in one way or another encroaches on his life, and vice versa. This object of crime is the basis of the division into chapters of the current Criminal Code.
The last is the immediate object. It refers to specific relationships that are harmed. It is the basis for dividing the Criminal Code into articles. The immediate object can be primary or secondary. In the first case, its content should coincide with the content of the generic object, in the second - the crime is not directed to the main object, but it hurts it, causing some harm.
This object of crime (that is, direct) can also be optional. In this case, harm is caused to that social relation, which is not mentioned in the article in question.