A crime, regardless of its specifics, is committed by a certain person or group of people with characteristic signs that make up their personality.
The concept of the subject of crime is not legally enshrined in any code, however, theorists will single out such a concept and mean by it the totality of the characteristics of the person who committed the crime, which are necessary to bring the subject to justice. It is the totality of signs that plays a decisive role in imputing punishment, since the absence of even one sign means that the subject of the crime cannot be held accountable.
An entity that may be held criminally liable must have the following characteristics:
- Animation, that is, the subject of the crime is a person. In accordance with the rules of the UKRF, only people can be guilty of a crime, unlike civil law, where individuals and legal entities can be the subjects of offenses .
- Awareness of the crime. A person must be aware of his actions or inaction. The guilt of the person who committed the crime is not recognized if, during the commission of the crime, the person did not realize what he was doing for objective reasons.
The ability to understand and consciously perform any actions arises in mentally healthy people from the moment of reaching a specific age, hence the third criterion that the subject of a crime must have - a certain age.
- UKRF provides for a minimum age of a subject who can bear responsibility - 16 years. It is reaching this age that a person already has a certain experience, he has developed systems of behavior in society, there is an idea of the rules of behavior and the concept of guilt and responsibility for violation of norms.
Despite the fact that criminal penalties are mainly applied to persons over the age of 16, there is a group of serious crimes for which persons over the age of 14 may be held accountable. In total, the code contains twenty articles on which adolescents can be involved, starting at the age of 14, among them: murder, rape, theft, robbery, robbery, terrorism and others.
The legislator also identified a third age group: crimes for which responsibility is charged only to adults, i.e. the subject of the crime must be 18 years old, for example, evading military service.
Separate the special subject of the crime.
A special subject is understood to be persons who have not only the above-listed age signs and are fully sane, but also the corresponding other signs established by law.
Signs of a special subject are reflected in separate articles, and each crime has its own set of signs. For example, in the category of war crimes, a separate sign is the ability to perform military service or the achievement of a person's certain rank. And in crimes related to bribery, a special attribute is the position of the accused. So, only officials can be the subject of such crimes .
All signs characteristic of a special subject can be divided:
- By gender. According to the norms of the Criminal Code, only men are guilty of rape.
- By belonging to the state. So, citizens of the country are punished for treason only, for espionage, respectively, foreign citizens.
- By family composition: parents or children.
- By military status: a conscript or a soldier.
- Depending on the official position.
- Depending on the profession.
- And so on.
Knowing all the basic characteristics of the subjects of crimes and their signs makes it possible to quickly and correctly apply one or another norm, which greatly facilitates and saves time when considering a case.