Hooligan actions - this is behavior that is considered unacceptable for any public place. It implies a violation of human rights and a pronounced disrespect for people. Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation says that hooliganism is punishable by corrective labor, arrest or imprisonment for up to two years.
The origin of the word "bully"
In the 18th century, a lord named Hooligan lived in Great Britain. His life was boring and monotonous. To bring fun and mischief to his daily routine, the lord periodically disturbed public order by committing hooligan acts. These were socially dangerous acts that caused certain harm to people. But in those days they were not yet called hooligan. Inadmissible social actions got their name thanks to its main instigator - Lord Hooligan. The newspaper Brewer's Dictionary has its own version of the origin of the word "bully." The well-known print publication says that at the end of the century before last, the Hooligan family lived in Southwark, which “enlivened” the monotonous life of the townspeople with amusing, even unacceptable to society actions. In the modern world, a bully is a person who commits socially dangerous acts.
Criminal liability for hooliganism
In the 20s of the last century, hooliganism "flourished" in full. In Russian cities, such actions were everywhere performed. It was singing obscene songs on city streets, and harassing girls, and obscene expressions, and spoiling monuments and other objects, and drunken fights. This is an incomplete list of possible hooliganism that catastrophically spread throughout the country. In this regard, the government decided to take measures to combat such an offense. In 1922, criminal liability for hooliganism was first established. The article was universal. It provided for punishment in the form of forced labor or imprisonment for up to one year. But it could be used only for not too serious offenses. The punishment for serious acts had to be established under other articles of the Criminal Code. In 1924, hooligan actions were recognized as an administrative tort. For repeated public dangerous acts, sentences were imposed in the form of imprisonment. In 1926, under the Criminal Code for committing hooliganism for the first time, the offender was imprisoned for up to three months. If these actions were accompanied by violence, atrocities, or were committed repeatedly, then for them you could get 24 months in prison. In early 1926, the government launched a company to combat this disorder. In 1935, five years of strict regime could be "earned" for malicious hooliganism.
Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
Today, hooliganism is understood as rude public order violation . A complete definition of this concept is given by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Article 213). Hooliganism there is described as a dangerous act committed with the use of weapons (items replacing weapons) and expressing disrespect for people. The Russian Criminal Code provides for the following types of punishment :
- Forced labor for a period of 120 to 180 hours.
- Correctional work for a period of 6 to 12 months.
- Arrest for a period of 4 to 6 months.
- Imprisonment up to 24 months.
For malicious hooligan actions, including the use of weapons or items replacing them, imprisonment from 4 to 7 years is provided. If the act was committed by an organized group, including by prior conspiracy, and also related to resistance to the authorities or committed by a person already convicted in the same case, then the articles of the Criminal Code provide for compulsory labor (180–240 hours), correctional labor (for a period of 1-2 years), imprisonment (up to 5 years). Hooliganism is not called insults, beatings and other acts that are based on personal hostile relations. This does not include domestic quarrels. In some cases, such actions can be recognized as hooligan, if they contain intent, suggesting a violation of the established public order and norms. Hooligan actions are deliberate crimes that are committed with direct intent. This means that the offender consciously performs actions that violate the established public order.
The object and subject of the offense
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for liability for hooligan acts. But in the theory of criminal law there is still no consensus on the subject of such a crime. Today, the object is public order, which represents the totality of relations and determines the behavior of people, which cannot be violated. Any crime to some extent affects public order, but with hooliganism it does not have a targeted nature: the offender does not seek to harm an individual or his property. The subject is any person who is 16 years old. The subjective side of crimes is characterized as follows. The offender realizes that his actions violate the established public order, and also expresses disrespect for society, but he wants to commit a crime. From a logical point of view, the actions of a bully are completely meaningless. The culprit seeks to affirm his own exclusivity and fix it in the minds of certain people. He wants to surprise others with his rude, strange deeds and indecent statements.
Petty hooliganism
Such actions may constitute a criminal offense or an administrative offense. The second concept refers to petty hooliganism. It is understood as an encroachment on public order, the calmness of the country's population. The composition of petty hooliganism is described in Article 158 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. It means the following actions:
- obscene words in public places;
- insults to citizens;
- insulting harassment of people;
- deliberate drawing of obscene inscriptions on fences and walls;
- damage to cultural monuments and other actions.
This list includes quite a few acts that violate the established public order. As a rule, petty hooliganism is a deliberate act that takes place in the presence of other people. Moreover, they are committed only in relation to an unfamiliar or unfamiliar person. Offenses based on personal hostility to a familiar person are not considered petty hooliganism. Responsibility for administrative offenses related to the violation of the established public order lies with persons who have reached 16 years of age. The Code of Administrative Offenses provides for liability for hooligan acts. This may be an administrative fine in the amount of 5-15 minimum wages, or arrest (for up to 15 days). The decision to impose a fine shall be taken by the head of the police department or his deputy. Administrative arrest is applied by a judge.
Hooliganism as a criminal offense
A criminal offense differs from an administrative violation in the nature of the acts committed and the degree of public danger. Criminal liability for hooliganism occurs if:
1) it is carried out using weapons, as well as items replacing them;
2) it is committed for ideological, political, racial, national motives;
3) it is based on religious hatred or hostility towards one or more social groups.
Weapons used as a result of hooligan actions are understood as firearms, gas, and cold. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation explains that in the process of such offenses violence related to the restriction of human freedom can be used. It can be expressed in tying hands, beating and causing other harm to human health. All actions in such a crime must be committed publicly, in the presence of witnesses, only in this case they can be classified as hooligan. By committing a public offense, a person demonstrates his disrespect for society. However, in some cases, hooliganism recognizes actions dangerous to society committed in the absence of people. Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation explain these points. A socially dangerous act is recognized as a crime if:
- there is a violation of the established public order in a rude manner;
- manifested clearly visible disrespect for society, expressed in ignoring the basic rules of decency, decency, accepted in society.
Phone hooliganism
The telephone is a great blessing of civilization. Thanks to him, we can hear a person who is several thousand kilometers away from us. But sometimes a telephone can ruin a life. How? Today, telephone hooliganism is widespread in the world. Often people start calling people from unfamiliar numbers in the middle of the night and annoyingly keep silence in the phone. There are also those who blackmail or threaten business rivals by telephone. But even more often, telephone hooligans are unhappy or offended lovers who pester their “victim” with phone calls with incomprehensible charges. What does the police recommend in these situations? Phone hooliganism is not so hard to figure out. Therefore, “smart” violators rarely use this method to harm another person. Often children and teenagers engage in such hooliganism for fun. In this case, you can threaten a telephone bully that when you call again, you will tell his parents everything or contact the police. As a rule, this turns out to be quite enough for teens to stop calling you. If this does not stop, the police recommend that you do the following:
- Purchase a voice recorder.
- At the next call, turn on the recording equipment and attach it to the handset.
- Try to prolong the conversation with an unknown subscriber so that he can lay out as much information as possible about himself.
- Record the date, time and duration of the telephone conversation.
- Come to the police station with a voice recorder and write a statement to suppress the fact of telephone hooliganism. Police officers need to be informed of the date, time of the call, its duration and give the cassette from the sound recorder.
Hooliganism and crime against the individual
The objective and subjective aspects of hooligan actions and crimes against the person are practically no different. In judicial practice, it is quite difficult to distinguish between these two
types of offenses. But there are a number of criteria that allow you to distinguish between hooligan and personal motives for committing a crime. To understand this, you need an article of the Criminal Code - hooliganism (213). If you analyze the information presented in it, you can see that the hooligan motives are almost always blurred.
- In a crime against the person, the instigator plans and prepares for him. Each of his actions is thought out and logical. The actions of hooligans do not differ in logic and sequence.
- The bully has no personal hostility to the victim; as a rule, he himself provokes victims of conflict. In a crime against a person, actions are characterized by deliberation, prudence. Here the offender pursues personal motives.
- If you carefully look at the composition of hooliganism, you can understand that the offender by his actions does more harm to public order than to a specific person. He has no goal to achieve any result. In crimes against the individual, there is always a specific purpose. If the act is committed using weapons, then it is prepared in advance and used specifically for its intended purpose.
Hooliganism and the crime against property
With many crimes, hooligan actions are similar. The Criminal Code, article 167, provides an explanation of crimes against property, which are often confused with hooligan acts. Intentional damage (spoilage) of another's property is characterized by certain signs:
- targeted destruction or damage to property;
- the object is property relations;
- the motives for such actions are domestic, moral, economic in nature.
With hooliganism, such signs are not observed. Here, another's property can also be destroyed, but the object is public order. The motives of such a crime are aimed only at violating the established public order, and not at harming the property of a particular person. The task of law enforcement officials is to correctly qualify crimes and classify them as hooligan or personal. Otherwise, there is a violation of the main principle of criminal law, which is the justice of the punishment for the crime.
The development of legislation in the field of hooliganism
All over the world, hooliganism is considered the "primary school" of criminal activity, especially violent and selfish. Now the state recognizes that a person is of the highest value. Human priority gives rise to the need for benevolent relations between people, compliance with the rules of a caring attitude and the creation of conditions that will ensure a healthy nation. In order to achieve these goals, every citizen must comply with the state rules of public behavior and security established by the state. People must also abide by rules that aim to preserve human health. When these conditions are not respected, the balance in society is violated: accidents occur, people get sick, material values die. Therefore, hooliganism is characterized by a high degree of danger. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation prescribes rules that provide for liability for attacks aimed at public order and security. This group of crimes has its own characteristics. These actions are fraught with violation of established obligations and rules of civil behavior.
- Hooliganism is a crime against established public order.
- It is a socially dangerous act.
- Such actions are recognized as a multidimensional crime, the commission of which violates public order and security.
- Hooliganism involves active actions leading to disruption of public order.
Such criminal behavior violates the conditions of rest, work of each person. And if it is accompanied by violent devices, then there is a threat not only of public order, but also of people's lives. In addition, hooliganism is the first step towards serious crimes. Most experts believe that legislation in this area needs to be further developed and improved. For example, article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation should introduce the responsibility of persons who contribute to the commission of hooligan actions in the form of inaction. Today, police officers often take a crime against property and personality for such violations. As a result of incorrect qualification, an unfair punishment for hooliganism is imposed. Therefore, crime problems require careful analysis. The criminal liability for this offense should be toughened, and the article devoted to it should be modified to correctly qualify the final crimes. Then the punishment for hooliganism imposed in the courts will be fair.