What is a crime? What are the basics of crime qualifications? We will explain all this and much more in this article.
Only recently, the definition of what constitutes a crime has appeared in the theory of criminal law. It was known before, but there was no concrete definition of this term.
Definition
Before developing the topic, you need to understand what crime is. So, a crime is inaction or action that is considered dangerous to society. In simple terms, harm from an action or inaction damages the interests of criminal law.
To better understand, consider what a crime is, for example, theft. It harms property rights that are accepted by society. An action that falls within the scope of the offense but does not contain signs of danger to society is not a crime. So, for example, if a person inflicts bodily harm to a maniac to protect the victim, then formally he should be punished. But this action does not constitute a public danger, which means that there is no corpus delicti.
The basis for determining the degree of crime
The main basis for qualifying crimes is the current Criminal Code. Only it describes all the actions that are considered crimes. It is also important that at the time of consideration of the act it has already entered into force and not be canceled. It is also impossible to apply criminal law by analogy. Only the supreme authority of our country has the right to amend or supplement the Criminal Code, but the judicial authorities do not belong to such bodies. If there is a gap in any law, it can only be eliminated by legislative means.
Crimes are qualified by finding matches between the norm of criminal law and the committed act. That is, two elements can be distinguished:
- life situation that needs to be assessed from the legal side;
- criminal law standards that contain a model of criminal behavior.
Qualification of crimes
The basics of qualifying crimes are more or less clear. Now you need to understand what meaning is embedded in this concept. So, qualifications can be said as about:
- specific activity or logical process;
- As a result, when an activity is rated as a dangerous type of behavior and this concept is reflected in a specific document.
In order for a crime to be correctly defined, and, accordingly, a fair punishment be imposed, it must be correlated with the correct classification.
The basis of qualification of crimes can be:
- logical;
- legal;
- philosophical;
- psychological.
When the correspondence is established between the situation and legal norms, it comes to the corpus delicti. So, in order to find the corpus delicti in an illegal hunt, it is necessary to indicate the crime scene (sign). Basically, this decision also determines which decision will be made as a result of the consideration of the case.
Qualification is an assessment of the criminal law nature of the circumstances of the case that were recorded. If circumstances established correctly, then the qualification will be correct.
The corpus delicti as the basis of qualification of crimes plays an important role. As well as a preliminary investigation, trial or sentencing. Qualification can be assigned after a cassation and supervisory review of criminal cases. If the action has a corpus delicti consistent with applicable criminal law, then this is reflected in the following documents:
- disagreement to institute proceedings or order to initiate proceedings;
- a decision to bring a person as an accused;
- application of preventive measures;
- conviction;
- closing indictment.
All listed papers should contain articles that may include crimes.
What does qualification mean?
We already know that the legal basis for qualifying crimes is the law. And it is the correct determination of the qualifications and corpus delicti that is a great responsibility. After all, it is the law enforcer who has the broadest powers in order to make a decision on how to qualify a crime. And the law enforcement authority bears responsibility for the decision made.
And even though the legal basis for qualifying crimes appeared, this process did not become easier. The fact is that it is possible to establish in action signs of a certain corpus delicti only through the concept of what classification the crime belongs to. The latter justifies the point of view of the law, which is taken into account and on its basis a person is brought to criminal liability, coercive measures, an indictment, a certain type of punishment or execution of punishments can be applied to him.
Qualification of the result is not a reflection of criminal law relations only. The corpus delicti as the basis of the qualification of a crime also reflects criminal procedural and criminal executive relations.
What qualification happens?
Qualification of crimes, as well as their composition, implies that the qualification process is divided into subtypes. After all, the corpus delicti is the basis for its qualification. So what qualification happens?
- Official. It is determined by the investigator, interrogator or court. Such qualifications can be determined at any stage of the paperwork.
- Unofficial. It can be identified by teachers, students and others.
Qualification Determination Procedure
During qualification determination the following actions are performed:
- First they find out if the action is criminal (Article 14 of the Criminal Code).
- Then they find out who or what is criminally encroached on.
- Analyze signs that are both subjective and objective.
- Determine the requirements of the law against the subject of the crime.
The basis of the qualification of crimes is the law, but do not forget about the human factor. Sometimes it depends on him how correct the punishment for the crime will be.
Qualifications
It is the correctly selected qualification of the criminal composition that is of key importance during the proceedings. Of course, the signs by which the crime is assessed are not constant. It is rather a subjective tool, because a lot depends on the applicable law and legal awareness of the lawyer. But on the other hand, such signs are as close as possible to the basics of qualification and investigation of crimes, which are constantly changing. Nevertheless, they are called evaluative with reference to conventionality.
An appraisal attribute is a significant damage caused during abuse of power, the interests of society or the state, as well as the interests and rights of citizens protected by laws.
What is substantial harm?
Interestingly, there is no such thing as substantial harm in the Criminal Code. This means that only a court can determine the degree of materiality of a crime.
The legal basis for qualifying crimes is the most important part of judicial proceedings. But it is also important that according to evaluative concepts it is possible to understand what kind of relations are between phenomena or objects. And also they characterize the result of comparing any subject and standard. But the standard, if considered in relation to crimes, has a very specific meaning.
Crime structure and qualification
Composition of a crime - this is the basis for a person to bear criminal responsibility. That is, a person who has committed any act having a corpus delicti is prosecuted by the prosecutor's office, representatives of the investigating authorities or the court. But there is a nuance: this person is not obliged to bear such responsibility.
The next function that constitutes a crime is to help qualify. After all, the logical basis for the qualification of crimes begins with the establishment of conformity of comparison, identification with the composite features provided by the legal norm. All because each corpus delicti has criminal and social significance.
The problem of the basics of qualifying a crime is a negative assessment of the society or state of those signs that constitute the corpus delicti.
The criminal legal significance is expressed in several points.
Qualification Mistakes
As in any business, no one is immune from mistakes. Such errors arise due to the incorrectly established presence or absence of signs characteristic of the offense. In addition, the incorrectly established conformity of the act and its description in the Criminal Code also apply to errors. These errors are criminal in nature, and not criminal procedural. They arise because there are gaps in the law or because of the incompetence of the person who establishes them.
Errors are divided into three groups:
- There is a corpus delicti, but it is absent in securities.
- There is no corpus delicti, but according to the papers he is present.
- The wrong norm of the basis for qualifying a crime in criminal law has been selected.
How are related crimes qualified?
It is in this qualification that problems can arise. Related offenses are similar in danger to society and vary in some ways. The Criminal Code has at least one hundred and fifty such compositions.
To qualify such crimes, it is necessary to highlight the elements that distinguish them. So, for the theft of another person’s property, one can single out the alienation as a dividing sign. That is, theft is secret theft, robbery is open, and robbery is violent.
Related crimes, which are official in nature, differ in object. For example, against state, military service or various organizations.
When it is more or less clear with the theoretical part, it is worth moving on to practice. Consider, as an example, several crimes, how qualifications are assigned and in what order this is done.
Customs Crime
The basis of the qualification of crimes in the field of customs is also the Criminal Code of our country. According to the code, five such crimes can be held liable.
These include smuggling, non-return to the territory of the country of the artistic, archaeological and historical heritage of our peoples, as well as foreign, non-return to the country of funds in foreign currency, illegal export of information, technology and everything that can be used to create dangerous weapons of mass destruction, non-payment of customs payments.
Smuggling
The basis of the qualification of crimes in customs, and specifically for criminals carrying smuggling, is article 188 of the Criminal Code of our country. The law understands smuggling as the movement through the customs border of our country of any objects or goods that is carried out secretly from customs or using forged documents.
What will be the punishment for the crime, as well as its qualifications depend on the subject of smuggling. There are two types of them, and each punishment is different.
- The first type are items or goods that are freely sold and bought. It can be jewelry, food products, tobacco products, manufactured goods, alcoholic beverages, currency, vehicles, household goods.
- For the second type, there is a list in which all items, goods, partially or completely removed from free access, are indicated. These include: narcotic drugs, equipment and materials that can be used to create weapons, psychotropic substances. As well as items for which special transportation rules are established, explosives, biological weapons, poisonous substances, military supplies, toxic substances, cultural property, radioactive substances, strategic raw materials, firearms.
Murder
Murder is the intentional deprivation of another person’s life. The methodological basis for qualifying a crime is the Criminal Code. The object of murder is human life. For this reason, special attention is paid to determining the moment of the beginning of life and the moment when it broke off.
The moment of the beginning of life is called the moment when the product of conception is completely extracted from the body of a woman. Simply put, from the moment the fetus is separated from the body, but the umbilical cord is still circumcised. The fetus should listen to a heartbeat, breathing, or muscle contraction or pulsation of the umbilical cord.
The moment of death is considered to be the time when the brain died.
The material corpus delicti as the legal basis for qualifying a crime will be as follows:
- A murder is considered completed if a person dies.
- When the perpetrator could not cause death to a person for reasons that are not dependent on him, this is called an attempted murder.
What are the killings:
- Simple.
- Privileged. This is a mitigating homicide.
- Qualified. Such a murder that has aggravating circumstances. They are as follows:
- the killing of two persons or more;
- persons and people close to him who were in the service or performing a public duty ;
- killing a person who is in a helpless state, as well as a kidnapped or hostage;
- killing a pregnant woman;
- murder committed with particular cruelty;
- common method of killing;
- murder committed by a group of persons, a group of persons by prior conspiracy;
- mercenary motivation, mercenary related to banditry and extortion;
- homicide killing;
- in order to conceal another crime; associated with rape or any other acts that are sexual in nature;
- due to national, religious or racial hatred, blood vengeance may also be included here;
- for the use of tissues or organs of a corpse.
Beatings
The concept and fundamentals of qualifying crimes of this type are as follows: Articles 115, 116 of the Criminal Code of our country.
Beatings can be characterized by repeated blows.
Other violent actions are tweaking, squeezing, pulling hair, and so on.
Removal of organs or tissues for transplantation
The foundations of criminal law, just like the foundations for qualifying crimes in the field of customs, is the Criminal Code. Specifically, this crime is regulated by the 119th article. So, such organs as the heart, bone marrow, liver, lungs, kidneys and other organs can be the transplantation object. This list is determined by the Ministry of Health and the Russian Academy of Sciences.
It is possible to remove organs or tissues from a living donor only if their health is not harmed. Organ transplantation is possible only after the consent of the donor.
It is forbidden to remove organs and tissues from a person who is not yet 18 years old, or if a person is recognized as incapable (this does not apply to bone marrow transplantation).
It is forbidden to remove tissues and organs if it is proved that their owner suffers from a dangerous disease. Tissues or organs cannot be removed from a subordinate or a person who is in any way dependent on the recipient.
The objective side is to force the donation of tissues or organs.
Qualifying features include:
- An act committed against a person who is helpless. This means that the victim, due to physical or psychological stiffness, cannot resist. At the same time, the killer is well aware that there will be no rebuff. Helpless individuals include severely ill patients, young children, elderly people and those who suffer from mental disorders that do not allow an adequate assessment of what is happening.
- An act committed against a person who is dependent on the perpetrator. This may include a situation in which the victim is financially dependent on the killer (lives on his territory or on his money). Another dependence implies subordination in work or in the service, as well as dependence related to family ties, marital relations, or relations based on a contract.
In this article, we have examined everything related to the concept of qualification of a crime and its fundamentals. But it’s best to live in such a way that this topic never comes in handy or touches any of those close to you.