The concept of crime plays an important role in jurisprudence, since it requires a clear definition. Understanding the term, its classification affect the terms of punishment and the conditions of its serving. In world practice, two definitions are recognized: material and formal.
Formal definition
The formal concept is accepted in many foreign countries. According to him, a crime is an act provided for by the Criminal Code in force in a particular country. The principle by which certain actions are classified as prohibited is incomprehensible in this case, which can provoke ambiguous situations.
The main thing is that the given definition does not distinguish between a crime and an act that is not punishable by the severity of criminal law because of its insignificance. A formal definition can lead to the fact that a person who has stolen a loaf of bread will be sentenced to imprisonment, since his action is a theft.
Material definition
According to the material definition, an act is already considered a crime, the prohibition of which is determined by its features. First of all, these are objects of encroachment and danger to the public. However, it is unacceptable to define a crime only on the basis of its material characteristics.
According to the Criminal Code adopted in 1922 in the RSFSR, an act is recognized as a crime or inaction that could entail danger to the workers and peasants' law and order. Such an understanding did not oblige to define what should not be violated. Accordingly, the judge could recognize as a crime any act that he considered dangerous for the state. Only a combination of the two definitions gives the most accurate result.
Signs of crime
The crime entails a danger to the public, expressed in prejudice to the interests protected by criminal law. At the same time, they cannot be considered an act, the consequences of which are not dangerous, but fall under the concept given by legislative acts.
There are several signs of such an act. As a socially dangerous phenomenon, a crime is characterized by the following:
- Public danger. It lies in an encroachment on values that are important to society and defined by part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as an object of criminal legal protection.
- Wrongfulness. A perfect act is recognized as a crime, provided that it is stipulated by criminal law as a ban on a specific action or inaction. Therefore, unlawfulness implies a ban on the implementation of certain acts under the threat of subsequent punishment.
- Guilt. A crime committed an unlawful and dangerous to society act is recognized only if it is deliberately committed. Only a person who is able to recognize and direct his own actions by virtue of his mental state and age is recognized as guilty. For this reason, acts that were committed by insane or juvenile persons are not recognized as a crime.
- Act is an act of action or inaction of a person. By action is meant the behavior realized by the face and manifested in body movements, facial expressions, the use of mechanisms, tools and objects. Inaction, on the contrary, is a deliberate failure by a person to fulfill certain obligations.
- The punishability. For the commission of any act, the prohibition of which is imposed by criminal law, liability arises, implying certain restrictions or deprivations.
What determines social danger?
Firstly, the extent of the damage. Hijacking two vehicles is more dangerous than hijacking one. Secondly, by the method of commission and aggravating circumstances: the presence or absence of violence, individually or by a group of persons, with or without weapons.
Thirdly, the incentives to accomplish it. Actions motivated by revenge, self-interest, attempts to hide something, are always punished more strictly. Fourth, the place and time of the offense. The degree of acts committed in wartime conditions, a state of emergency or a public calamity is significantly burdened by them.
Crime as a criminal act
Acts considered in this vein are provided for by the current criminal law, otherwise the act is not recognized as a crime. Criminal law does not allow the use of analogies. For example, when analyzing a case of theft of information from a database, a judge cannot be guided by the rules on theft, despite the fact that they regulate almost identical situations.
Crime as a guilty act
Criminal liability and punishment threaten a person if his crime is recognized as committed in a situation where he controlled his behavior, that is, there was a manifestation of will and consciousness. Both factors are reflected in the category of guilt, represented in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation by the person’s mental attitude to the act or its consequences and expressing a negative attitude to the interests of society and the individual in particular.
Intentional crime
An act committed with direct or indirect intent is recognized as a deliberate crime.
By direct intent is understood a situation in which a person is fully aware of the social danger of his actions or inaction and wants the consequences that they entail. For example, during a quarrel, a person wants and is ready to stab his opponent in the most vulnerable places, realizing that this can lead to his death.
Indirect intent is a situation in which a person understands the consequences of his actions, but consciously admits their onset. In other words, the criminal consequences are a by-product of a complete crime - the price that a person is willing to pay to achieve other goals. The most striking example is when, as a result of a shootout, an intruder kills outsiders.
Types of Crime
Crime is a legal concept defined by the norms of the current Criminal Code. There are several types of crime depending on the degree and nature of the danger to the public and the form of guilt:
- Light weight.
- Moderate
- Heavy.
- Particularly severe.
What punishment is provided in each case?
Crimes of small and medium gravity
The punishment for committing intentional and reckless acts of minor gravity is two years in prison, but no more.
Medium crimes are committed with intent. The maximum term for them is no more than five years. For reckless actions, the punishment is up to two years of restriction of freedom.
Grave and especially grave crimes
Serious crimes are considered to be committed with intent acts, punishable by up to ten years.
Particularly grave are deliberate acts, the term of punishment for which exceeds ten years. More stringent preventive measures may be provided - life imprisonment or capital punishment.
Stages of a criminal act
Criminal law provides for several stages of the commission of a crime, which means the stages of its implementation. In the theory of criminal law there are three stages:
- Cooking.
- Attempt
- Finished crime.
A crime is recognized to be completed from the moment when the act committed by a person is characterized by all the signs of a crime. Unfortunately, such a definition does not provide a clear understanding of the signs of a completed offense. After all, the unfinished is also characterized by signs of corpus delicti. The only exception is the result. Signs of a final offense are highlighted in the analysis of the crime.
Mandatory features include:
- Performing all actions conceived by the person. In this case, only those actions or inaction, the ban on which is imposed in the Special Part of the Criminal Code, and which are the objective side, play an important role.
- Achieving the goal set by the person.
Consequently, for the completed crime it is characteristic that the perpetrator performs all dangerous actions or inaction and they achieve a specific result. Thanks to this definition, it is possible to distinguish between completed and unfinished crimes.
Time of the offense
The principle of legality in the qualification of offenses is guaranteed by the establishment of the moment the crime ends. The time of committing a crime is the time at which the act dangerous to the public was committed.
In some situations, the moment the crime ends is not determined due to specific factors - the specificity and composition of the crime. This is most clearly manifested by the example of smuggling. The relevant articles of legislation indicate that when considering such cases, the moment of completion depends on the form and method of transfer of goods, the method of commission, and the stages of the movement of contraband. Nuances are established during the investigation of a criminal act on the basis of the norms established by the current Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The guilty person will be punished in full if in the course of the judicial investigation his full guilt is established.