Composition of crime is the main component of criminal law.

The concept of “corpus delicti” in criminal law is rather difficult to disclose. In order for a certain action to become criminal, it is necessary that a number of conditions come together. In everyday non-legal language it is necessary to say that the perfect action must be prescribed in law. And how it is spelled out is included in the concept of “corpus delicti” - this is a set of signs that are provided for in the law (primarily in the Criminal Code) and identifying a certain act as criminal.

Signs of composition

All signs are divided into two large groups - objective and subjective. In turn, each group is divided into two more varieties. The object and the objective side stand out in the first group of signs, the subject and the subjective side in the second. In general terms, the object of the crime is what the action is aimed at (human life, property). The objective side is expressed directly in the article (disposition). A subject is a person who commits an unlawful act and has a number of signs: legal capacity, reaching a certain age (16 years or 14 for certain particularly dangerous compounds). The subjective side can be represented as a whole with a form of guilt (intent or negligence). In turn, intent is divided into direct and indirect, and negligence is divided into frivolity and negligence.

The corpus delicti, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation indicates this, must necessarily have a number of signs, without which it is impossible to qualify the act as criminal. These include: existing social relations, criminal actions (or inaction), guilt and the presence of the criminal properties that were mentioned above. If there is not even one sign, then this excludes the crime of the deed, and, therefore, the punishment cannot be applied. There are optional circumstances that are also called optional. They may be in a particular case, or may be completely absent. For example, this is the instrument by which this crime was committed, the environment, factors that influenced the offender, motives and purpose of the act. It should be noted the important role of optional features.

The role of optional circumstances

The corpus delicti is a generalized formula, but in some of them the optional attribute may become the main one. Moreover, optional circumstances play an important role in qualification, aggravating or mitigating punishment. For example, a victim affected a person, humiliating his human dignity. Or in order to crack down on a neighbor, an attacker set fire to a house, from which other houses and buildings later lit up. In this case, aggravating factors are evident.

Value

The main role in criminal law is played by the offense. This is no coincidence. It is he who determines whether this act will be criminal or not. Also, the corpus delicti is an opportunity for the proper qualification and delimitation of related illegal acts. For the correct application of legal norms, their uniform interpretation is important, which is especially important in criminal law, since human life is the main value.