The presumption of guilt and objective imputation is crucial in the theory of criminal law. The legislator defined it as one of the most important concepts, which is why it is necessary to consider these categories as fundamental. In this article we will determine what objective imputation is, the principle of guilt, as regulated in the Criminal Code (hereinafter - the Criminal Code).
We turn to the essence of the issue, analyzing article 5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which is devoted to these positions.
What is objective imputation?
The comments on article 5 state that objective imputation is the occurrence of liability for guilty harm. That is, if guilt has not been proven, prosecution and sentencing are not possible. In determining the corpus delicti, the institution of guilt is very important. If it is absent, the criminal legal consequences of the act do not actually entail. Objective imputation is an assessment category which is considered from different positions. The assessment applies to all the signs that relate to the corpus delicti: this is the object, subject, objective and subjective parties.
Objective imputation of object and subject
In order to make it clear what objective imputation in criminal law on an object means, we give an example. The person has caused harm to the health of the victim; there is evidently intentional infliction of harm to health. The law enforcer, analyzing the object, qualifies the act as an attempted murder. It, in turn, further changes towards an encroachment on the life of a law enforcement officer. In this case, in fact, the elements of the crimes are very similar, but their object is completely different. The judge decides that this is an objective imputation of the object
Imputation on the basis of the subject focuses on sanity and special features of the subject. The most common signs is the occupation of the post - military personnel, officials and more. It is important to assess the condition of the subject, because this affects the final decision.
Objective imputation on the objective side
Objective imputation is a multifaceted phenomenon and the acts of the criminal are one of the sides of the phenomenon being studied. In this case, it is necessary to analyze the activity of the criminal, to evaluate the totality of the actions committed by him. An example in this case is the excess imputation of the system of various signs of corpus delicti. For example, there is a qualified corpus delicti, which contains all the signs of a committed act. Not paying attention to him, the law enforcer imputes several corpus delicti. This is not true, because it is necessary to apply the first option, when there is one norm with all the signs.
There are also cases where a person is charged with several crimes that are identical to each other. Moreover, they, in turn, form a single ongoing crime. It also affects the amount of punishment and the procedure for criminal prosecution.
Imputation on the subjective side
The subjective side indicates a person’s attitude to the act committed by him. The first sign of objective imputation is the presence of a causal and investigative relationship between what a person has committed and the consequences that have occurred. If there is no such connection, then talking about the crime is impossible.
The next provision is to determine the form of guilt. It is necessary to analyze the cause-and-effect relationship identified earlier and to understand what is the attitude of the offender to this. Based on this, determine the form of guilt.
It is impossible to impute to a person those signs of a crime and circumstances that were not covered by his consciousness. That is, if a person was not aware of the essence of what was happening and did not want the consequences to occur, one cannot blame him for committing a crime.
What is wine?
Guilt is the basis for the formation and consolidation of the corpus delicti by legislative means. If a person’s guilt is not proved, he is not guilty, which means that you can’t talk about his specific crime. This principle is enshrined even in the Constitution and is called the presumption of innocence. As mentioned earlier, this is the most important category of criminal law, the importance of which cannot be underestimated.
Guilt is a person’s mental attitude to what he has committed and the consequences that arose as a result of a perfect act. The legislator divided the guilt into two parts - this is intent and negligence. We will not analyze these categories in detail, they depend on whether the person wanted the consequences to come and whether he understood the wrongfulness of his actions.
Earlier, we talked about article 5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, it refers to the principle of guilt. We will talk about him further.
Guilt principle
Along with objective imputation, there is another situation. Such a phenomenon as the principle of guilt in criminal law implies the personality, individuality and peculiarity of criminal liability in each specific case. In order to understand the essence of the principle, we briefly describe the procedure for holding accountable.
- An insane person cannot be held liable for a crime. This is due to the fact that such a person has no fault - he simply does not realize what he is doing and how dangerous his behavior is for others, the state and so on.
- If a sane person attracted an insane person to commit a crime, then there will be no liability for the latter. For the first, the crime will be qualified with the mark "organizer".
- Responsibility cannot be assigned to unauthorized persons, even relatives, guardians, acquaintances. This is due to the fact that these persons will not be found guilty.
- To recognize a person as guilty is to establish his involvement in the commission of a crime. It must be recognized that it was this person who harmed and he was aware of this fact.
- Along with guilt, for completeness, the goal, motive, signs of the objective side, that is, the degree of readiness, thoughtfulness of actions and quantitative indicators, are analyzed.
We examined such important concepts as the principle of guilt in criminal law and objective imputation. Compliance with these provisions in practice is of great importance, the law enforcer must constantly focus on them during the investigation of the case. Understanding the basis allows you to multifaceted look at the case and make the right decision on it.