The theory of criminal law has recently established what constitutes a crime. In practice, this concept has been used for a long time, but there was no exact content and definition.
The term "crime"
To understand what the composition is, what is the basis and how a crime is qualified, it is necessary to understand the concept itself.
A crime is an action or inaction (act) that is socially dangerous. In simple words, the harm from this event is expressed in damage to interests that fall under the jurisdiction of criminal law.
For example, theft harms the property rights that are accepted in society. That act, which formally falls under the composition of the offense, but does not contain signs of public danger, will not be a crime. For example, inflicting bodily harm on a maniac in order to protect children from him. Viewed formally, an action is subject to punishment, but it has no public danger, which means that there is no question of a crime.
Concept
The system of subjective and objective elements (signs) of acts (actions or inactions), provided for both in the hypothesis and in the disposition of norms, and characterizing a certain dangerous act as criminal, is called the corpus delicti.
Consists of 4 constituent subsystems:
- object of offense;
- objective side of the offense;
- subjective side of the crime;
- subject of crime.
The meaning of the composition is that it serves as the basis for the appointment of criminal liability. When any element of the composition is absent, criminal liability does not arise. For example, the act is committed by a person recognized as insane. In such a situation, there is no subject of the crime. This means that a sentence cannot be passed, since such a person is not prosecuted.
Composition of a crime in the Criminal Code
The composition and qualification of crimes in the criminal law are not disclosed. This term is used by investigative and judicial practice and the theory of criminal law.
It is customary to understand the composition as a combination of objective and subjective signs, which, according to the law, characterize a certain socially dangerous act as a crime.
The corpus delicti is a legislative image of a specific criminal act, which is described in specific articles of the Special Section of the Criminal Code.
Qualification of crimes
In translationfrom Latin "qualification" - quality. They talk about qualifications regarding crimes in two senses:
- as about a certain logical process or activity;
- as a result, where the activity received a final assessment of a dangerous type of behavior and a concept is assigned to the act in a certain document.
In order to correctly classify a crime and then make the right decision regarding punishment, it is necessary to figure out how to divide crimes.
They highlight the logical, philosophical, legal, psychological foundations of qualification.
In the field of criminal law, qualification is understood as establishing the correspondence or equality of the signs that a committed dangerous act has with the signs that are provided for by law.
The conclusion about whether there are such signs and whether they correspond to those described is made on the basis of a comparison of the act with existing norms. Comparison is made only on one basis of generally recognized criminal law measures, other signs are not taken into account.
The very concept of corpus delicti is influenced by the qualification of the crime.
For example, for the offense of illegal hunting, the sign "crime scene" is considered mandatory. The decision made on the issue will depend on him.
Qualification is an assessment of the criminal law nature of those factual circumstances in the case that took place. Correctly established qualifications depend on the correct establishment of circumstances.
A crime is qualified in the course of a preliminary investigation (inquiry, preliminary investigation), as well as a trial, and then a verdict. Also, the assignment of qualifications is included in the tasks of supervisory and cassation proceedings in criminal cases. Conclusions that the act contains a crime that complies with the established criminal law standards are reflected in the documentation:
- decision to initiate proceedings or in disagreement to initiate;
- decision that it is necessary to bring a person as an accused;
- applying preventive measures;
- guilty;
- indictment.
These documents detail and accurately record the names of all articles under which the crime falls.
Meaning of Qualification
Determining the corpus delicti and qualification of crimes is one of the most crucial moments in the work of law enforcement agencies. The law enforcement officer is vested with the broadest powers in deciding on the qualification of a crime.
The same moment determines full responsibility for the decision taken by the law enforcement officer in the case.
Problems of qualifying crimes by composition still exist, despite numerous attempts to make a clear classification. Establishment in the act of signs of a specific corpus delicti can be achieved only by qualifying the crime. Here she performsjustification in terms of law, according to which a person is prosecuted, coercive measures are applied, charges are brought, punishments are determined or a punishment is carried out.
Qualification as a result is not only a reflection of protective criminal law relations, but also reflects related penitentiary and criminal procedure relations.
The right qualifications are the key to getting the right verdict.
Types of qualifications
The composition of the crime and the qualification of crimes during its definition imply the division of the qualification process into various subspecies. The corpus delicti is the basis for qualifying the crime.
Types of qualifications:
- Official. Such qualification is given by the investigator, interrogator or court at all stages of criminal proceedings.
- Unofficial. It is given privately by students, scientists, others.
Qualification process
During the qualification of crimes, several actions are performed:
- finding out whether this act is criminal (compliance with article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation No. 14);
- it turns out who is the object (and in some cases - the subject) of the criminal encroachment;
- carrying out the analysis of signs that are included in the objective as well as the subjective side;
- determine the legal requirements that apply to the subject of the crime.
Correctthe qualification of a crime makes it possible to clarify the question of the presence or absence of criminal liability, and also allows the court to determine a fair punishment for the committed act.
Evaluation signs in qualifying
Qualification of elements of crimes with evaluative features is an important step in the analysis of the act.
Evaluation features are variable. Their content significantly depends on what kind of legal consciousness is observed in a lawyer who applies the law. These signs are closest to the constantly changing situation, which the investigating authorities, the prosecutor's office and the court have to assess. And with a certain degree of conventionality, they are usually called "evaluative" signs.
An example of a typical evaluative attribute would be an indication of "significant harm" that is caused by the abuse of power, public or state interests, as well as interests that are protected by law, public interests and the interests and rights of citizens.
Substantial harm
Since the very concept of “significant harm” is not disclosed in the Criminal Code, the final decision on whether the crime itself is significant or not is made only by the court.
The composition of the crime and the qualification of crimes is one of the most important stages in all judicial proceedings. At the same time, evaluative concepts are a reflection of the relationship between objects or phenomena, and also characterize the result of comparing an object with a certain one.sample (standard or standard).
It is worth noting that the concept of a standard in relation to crimes is considered very specific.
The value of the corpus delicti for qualification
First of all, the meaning of the corpus delicti is to be the basis for criminal liability. This means that a person whose act contains corpus delicti is subject to criminal liability by the prosecutor's office, the court and the investigating authorities, and the person himself is not obliged to bear such responsibility.
The second function that corpus delicti has is to help qualify. The value of the corpus delicti for the qualification of crimes is to establish the necessary compliance, identity, identification of the deed with the signs of the corpus delicti, which are provided for in the legal norm.
A well-defined corpus delicti has social and criminal legal significance.
The value of the corpus delicti for the qualification of crimes of a general social nature is to express a negative assessment of the society of the totality of signs that form a certain corpus delicti. Also, the state can express its attitude to this issue.
Criminal legal meaning is expressed in a number of different ways.
Qualifying errors
The qualification of an act according to the corpus delicti, unfortunately, may have errors.
Qualification errors are misplacedthe absence or presence of signs of a crime, as well as its compliance with the description in parts of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (definition according to Kuznetsova N. F.). Such errors are of a criminal law nature, in contrast to criminal procedural ones. The main sources of such errors are shortcomings in law enforcement and shortcomings in legislation.
Qualifying errors are summarized in three groups:
- Crimes are not recognized where they are.
- It is recognized that there is a crime where it is absent.
- Wrong norm of the Criminal Code is chosen for qualification.
Qualification of related crimes
Qualification of related offenses has certain difficulties.
Adjacent compounds are related in the nature of the danger they pose to society, and also differ in one or more common features. There are at least 150 related offenses in the Criminal Code.
To qualify such crimes, it is important to highlight the elements that will distinguish them. For example, in the case of theft of someone else's property, the form of appropriation of someone else's will serve as dividing signs. If theft is a secret theft, robbery is open, and robbery is violent.
Related service crimes are different in object - the interests of service in different organizations, against the interests of public service, justice, military service.
Qualification of crimes on the basis of corpus delicti in related cases, as well as the definition of relatedness of actions allow us to define such a thing as the repeated conviction and crime. This means that there can be several objects. Criminologically, such a decision is quite justified.
Conclusions
The composition of the crime, the types of compositions, the qualification of the crime in the total aggregate form the only basis for determining criminal liability. They serve as the correct legal qualification to which a criminal act is subjected, and are also the basis for the court to determine the amount of punishment, its type and severity, and also be able to establish another measure of criminal liability.
An accurate and correct definition of a crime is one of the guarantees that the rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen will be protected, law and order will be respected and strengthened, and the state will continue to have signs of a democratic and legal one.
