Every citizen of the country must understand that for a normal civilized living it is necessary to observe certain rules of conduct and be responsible for their actions. If a person commits a crime, then it will be revealed and punishable. This is an inevitable phenomenon that allows us to say that every person in the country is protected by the state, or rather, by executive bodies, such as the police. In order for the guilty person to be held responsible for the crime committed, it is necessary to initially create an evidence base, which, undoubtedly, will confirm the fact of his guilt or innocence.
One of the crimes is significant damage under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which was caused to the other side. It is a criminal offense that significant damage is caused to the injured party. Qualified this act Art. 167 of the Criminal Code.
Criminal Code, Article 167
In order to understand what is at stake, consider what the article of the Criminal Code on the subject of the crime says. What is significant damage under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation?
The subject of a crime is the property of the other party (the defendant), the damage to which was, in fact, inflicted. That is, not only destruction, but also damage to the property of another citizen can be called significant damage.
The subject of a crime must have a commodity value, that is, a price, it can be determined by an objective method. As for the conditions under which the crime was committed, they also matter. In today's world, we hear more and more often about terrorist acts and vandalism; for these conditions, other relevant articles of the criminal code are defined, which provide for a completely different punishment.
In order to have a clear distinction between the destruction of property and its damage, we consider that the Criminal Code defines how the destruction of property and its damage.
Destruction of property
Destruction of property refers to the criminal actions of a citizen, as a result of which the property of another person was rendered unusable, that is, it cannot be repaired and cannot be used for its original purpose. Damage under such circumstances is “significant”.
This article provides for punishment for persons of 16 or 14 years of age. Moreover, there is no difference what prompted a person to commit this crime. Also, the article does not take into account the motive of the crime, unless it is another criminal act. In this case, you can give an example. The offender, in order to hide the theft, set fire to the house. Then he will be convicted of theft and damage to property at the same time.
Damage or destruction of another's property
If a citizen, as a result of illegal actions, has damaged or damaged property that is owned by another citizen, then this will be qualified under Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
What is property damage? Damage refers to the actions of the perpetrator, which led to the partial loss of the subject of their external data, performance. As a result, the damaged property needs to be repaired, after which it is possible to restore its original purpose.
That is, if repair does not help with the destruction of property, then in case of damage after repair, the item can be used by the owner. But for the restoration of the item will need to make physical effort and financial investment, and it also takes time.
What is the punishment?
Art. 167 of the Criminal Code consists of two parts. According to part 1, a person who is 16 years old is punished for actions that result in property damage to others.
In part 2 of this article, persons who have reached the age of 14 may be punished.
If the actions of the perpetrator are considered under Article 167, Part 1, then he may face the following punishment:
- a fine of up to 40 thousand rubles;
- a fine in the amount of wages or other income that the perpetrator receives in the amount of three-month income;
- correctional labor up to 360 hours;
- correctional labor up to 12 months;
- compulsory work up to two years;
- arrest for up to 3 months;
- imprisonment of up to 24 months.
If the perpetrator is tried under section 167, paragraph 2., he may be threatened with the following punishment:
- compulsory correctional labor for up to 5 years;
- imprisonment for up to 5 years.
Comment on the article
The commentary on article 167 suggests that part 2 applies when the actions of the perpetrator or perpetrators were motivated by hooliganism. Moreover, the destruction or damage to property is recognized as intentional action. If in this case a person was injured, then this will be considered as unintentional infliction of significant damage, harm to health.
The two sides of the crime
There are two sides to this crime - it is objective and subjective. The objective side is when intentional actions were aimed precisely at ensuring that the property lost its economic and material value, which, in fact, happened.
Speaking about the subjective side, it is worth noting that this may not be a deliberate action, but a neglect of a person towards someone else’s property, which entailed the complete or partial loss of material, economic and consumer value by the property.
In order to more clearly understand how this can happen, we give the simplest example. The person intentionally decided to commit arson of his own property, but as a result of the fire, another's property was also destroyed. In this case, Article 167 of the Criminal Code applies.
Hooligan motives
If the actions of the perpetrator are hooligan, then this implies the commission of a criminal act that had no reason or reason was not significant. Hooliganism in this case is an action aimed at intentionally damaging property belonging to another person. The only purpose of the offender is the desire to bring anxiety to other people, this is often done when teenagers want to assert themselves in this way. Significant damage to an individual under Art. 167 of the Criminal Code is punished, despite the fact that made the perpetrator commit it.
If the person has not reached the age that can be held accountable, then a parent or other person who represents the interests of the culprit will bear it for him. It may be a guardian. Article 167 applies in situations where significant damage has been caused under the Criminal Code.
Damage assessment
In order for a criminal act to be qualified under Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to prove that the amount of damage allows qualifying it as significant. Legislative acts do not provide a clear distinction on this issue.
Significant damage under the Criminal Code - how much? It is only noted that the minimum amount of damage that may qualify as “significant” may be 2500 rubles. But still, it can vary depending on what level of affluence the victim has.
There is also no clear distinction regarding the damage caused to municipal or commercial enterprises. The assertion that “the damage caused did not have a significant impact on the injured party” will be incorrect. The law says that the significance of the damage caused should be determined only for the individual. Significant damage to an individual under Art. 167 of the Criminal Code is determined in a minimum amount of 2.5 thousand rubles. This is the minimum amount that does not depend on the level of affluence of the victim.
What damage is considered significant when it comes to an enterprise or organization? In the event of damage to an organization or an enterprise, the most important evaluation feature is the study of all the circumstances of the case under consideration. For such cases, it will be considered that the size of significant damage in terms of cost characteristics will be in the range from 2500 to 250 000 rubles. In each situation, this factor must be evaluated individually.