Criminal law is a large branch of the Russian legal system, which includes the rules on the basis of which the fight against crime is carried out. It is an integral, ordered and internally consistent structure. The concept of criminal law will be discussed in detail in our article.
What is criminal law?
Crimes have been committed and will continue to be committed. They cannot be eradicated, but they can be minimized. This is the purpose of criminal law.
Scientists give different interpretations to the concept of crime. Lawyers talk about breaking the law, sociologists talk about major atrocities. Certainly crimes violate social order and harm people. The most important duty of both the state and the entire people is the prevention and non-admission of criminal acts. This can only be done in accordance with the law.
The concept and system of criminal law have been formed in Russia since ancient times. Historians call the first domesticcriminal law "Russian Truth" Yaroslav the Wise. This act contains a list of crimes and their corresponding sanctions. The criminal branch of law in Russia has a long and complex history. It was formed ten centuries, but acquired its final form only in 1996. It was then that the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was adopted - the most important regulatory act of the country.
This branch of law has two forms: general and special. The first incorporates the norms that establish the rules for the operation of the law in space and time. The concept of a crime is being formed, and its signs are being established.
A special form of law involves the formation of sanctions for each type of crime. Punishments must be commensurate with the crimes committed. An optimal result can only be achieved through a competent study of the concept and methods of criminal law.
The general and special forms may change their content due to differences in the classifications compiled by lawyers. So, there is another system, according to which the general part incorporates the concept of criminal law and criminal law, as well as crime and punishment. The concept of a special part of criminal law involves the division of crimes into groups. So, they are against the individual, the state, public security, the military, justice, etc.
The modern criminal branch of law does not stand still. It is constantly changing and improving. For more than 20 years of the existence of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, many norms have changed or lost their meaning. This indicates the continuous development of the concept and principlescriminal law. However, some ideas remain the same. This is legality, focus on protecting human and civil rights, humanism and justice.
Subject of criminal law
The concept of the considered legal branch is formed on the basis of its subject. In this case, these are social relations created in the field of criminal law.
The subject of the considered legal branch is formed on the basis of four scientific provisions. Firstly, it is the expediency of such differentiated categories as legal regulation and legal impact. Secondly, it is the division of the legal fact. It can be characterized from the point of view of relations of the state-criminal type, as well as in connection with the commission of a crime. Thirdly, it is an analysis of the violation of the reaction of the individual to the basic regulatory legal relations. Finally, fourthly, this is the definition of the content of the rights and obligations of subjects of criminal law by studying their needs.
The subject consists of three types of social relations:
- Precautionary attitude. They are formed in the field of preventing the commission of a criminal act. Prevention of socially dangerous acts also plays an important role here.
- Protective relations. They arise between the state and the criminal in the sphere of action of state functions for the protection of order in society. Protective relations are related to public and state security.
- Enabling or regulatory relations. Arise between the criminal,state and society. We are talking about the interaction of the state and citizens in order to protect their own freedoms, interests and rights.
Thus, the concept and subject of criminal law are a complex structure of social relations. The above classification is classical in jurisprudence. It accurately reflects the essence of the concept of the criminal law sphere.
Problems of criminal law
The concept of Russian criminal law includes not only the interpretation of a specific term, but the definition of all its features. In particular, the tasks of the legal branch under consideration may well constitute a whole definition. All of them are presented in Part 1 of Article 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
The first task is the most important, and therefore the most obvious. It is the protection of the rights, interests and freedoms of man and citizen. This also includes the protection of property, the protection of the state system, public order and security, ensuring the safety of the environment, maintaining peace, preventing and preventing crime, and much more. All presented tasks are priorities. Based on them, many other goals and functions are formed.
The concept of Russian criminal law includes the protection of property rights. At the same time, there is no division into private, municipal, state property.
Protection of public order is the object of criminal law protection. It is a set of social relations aimed at ensuring public peace, inviolability of the individual, protection frominternal and external threats, etc.
Environmental protection is an independent object of criminal law protection. Every citizen of Russia has the right to stay in a favorable ecological environment. For any crimes in the field of ecology, the perpetrator is expected to face criminal sanctions.
Thus, all the tasks of the legal branch under consideration can be divided into three groups: these are the protection of public order, the protection of property and the preservation of the safety of the environment. Lawyers also compiled other classifications, but it is the three groups presented that most fully reflect the direction of the criminal sphere.
Principle of legality
Having de alt with the concept and tasks of criminal law, one should pay attention to the basic principles, ideas and conditions on which the legal branch in question is based. Next, we will talk about the principles - the initial provisions underlying the criminal law.
Legality is the first and most important principle. It plays a decisive role in the development of the concept and system of criminal law. The content of the principle of legality is disclosed in the Russian Constitution: not a single adopted norm should contradict the provisions enshrined in the country's fundamental law.
The principle under consideration is not limited to just pointing to the rule of law. It is also about the proportionality of the harm caused in the course of the crime and the subsequent punishment. All sanctions imposed on the perpetrators must be fair. Justice issource of any law. As a result, criminal norms should be built on the basis of higher norms to ensure social balance.
Another meaning of legality is connected with the prohibition on the use of the analogy of legal norms. An analogy in jurisprudence is the filling of gaps in law without relying on the norms of the law. Since there is no case law in Russia, the analogy of the law is considered unacceptable. Decisions can only be made according to existing norms, and in case of gaps, one should seek interpretation from the Supreme or Constitutional Courts.
Finally, the last interpretation of the principle of legality is connected with the work of legislators. They are required to indicate the signs of criminal acts as accurately and fully as possible. In other words, it is the legislators who are obliged to prevent the appearance of gaps and analogies of the law.
The principle of legality in criminal law has two forms:
- no punishment without the law;
- no crime without a law.
Thus, the considered principle is of a formal nature. It is a necessary prerequisite for such ideas as equality, humanity and justice.
Principles of Equality, Guilt, Justice and Humanism
The idea of legality in criminal law is fundamental. The rest of the principles are directly dependent on it. Thus, the idea of the equality of all citizens before the law is directly enshrined in the Russian Constitution. It flows smoothly into criminal law. The content of this idea is that all people are equal before the court and the law. Stateit also guarantees equality of freedoms and human rights regardless of gender, race, nationality, attitude to religion, language, worldview, etc. Social labels or attributes have no effect on the final sanction that will be given to the guilty person.
The principle of justice has already been discussed above. One has only to add that the idea under consideration comes from the provisions on morality and morality. It is these two categories that define the principle of legality. At the same time, justice is not the main idea. When it comes to morality and law, in jurisprudence, priority is given to the latter. The thing is that justice is, although the main, but in no way regulated and systematized sphere. Governing society requires a clear system of norms.
The principle of guilt is closely related to the principle of justice. A person cannot be punished until his guilt is officially proven. Objective imputation of liability for innocent infliction of harm is not allowed. Guilt is characterized by special features that must be taken into account by the legislator before imposing sanctions. The importance of the principle is undeniable, since it makes a connection between two legal categories: disposition and sanction.
The last principle is connected with the ideas of humanism. It is close in spirit to justice, since here we are talking about the moral position of a person and society. In the concept of criminal law, the meaning and role of humanism are especially important. Thus, all applicable pen alties and sanctions mustto educate a person, but in no way ruin his life.
Criminal Law Methods
Method in jurisprudence is a set of ways and means aimed at regulating relations in society. In criminal law, methods regulate the criminal sphere - namely, crimes and the methods of establishing punishments for them.
There are several classifications of legal methods. The concept of criminal law is included in the system of legal sciences, and therefore it is necessary to bring scientific methods: dispositive (permissive) and imperative (binding or prohibiting). The considered branch of law includes exclusively imperative methods interspersed with optionality. This phenomenon is easy to explain: criminal law establishes tough types of sanctions for certain crimes. Accordingly, the courts, guided by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, oblige the perpetrators to be punished. Inclusions of optionality can be found in some types of guarantees.
The following classification of methods is also scientific. It concerns not the implementation of the criminal process, but only its study. The division occurs into deductive and inductive methods, as well as into analysis and synthesis. Deduction means the study of various elements of law according to the principle "from the general to the particular", and induction - "from the particular to the general". Analysis involves a systematic analysis of an integral phenomenon, and synthesis involves the formation of a representation by studying various elements.
Finally, a group of practices should be explored. Herehighlight:
- imposing a criminal sanction for criminal acts;
- criminalization of certain socially dangerous acts;
- decriminalization of acts previously considered crimes;
- confiscation of property from a criminal;
- exemption from criminal liability and punishment;
- application of coercive measures of a sanitary or medical nature;
- giving citizens special powers in the field of protecting their own he alth or life, etc.
Unlike scientific methods, the practical ways and techniques of organizing criminal law differ in number and variety. They disappear and appear along with the new provisions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Criminal liability
Having de alt with the concept, subject and methods of criminal law, attention should be paid to the most important category of the legal branch in question: criminal liability. This is one of the types of legal liability, the content of which is the measures applied by the authorities to the person who committed the crime.
Criminal liability is closely related to the concept of a crime in criminal law. If a crime is an act or omission that violates the law, then liability is a measure of punishment proportionate to it.
Society reacts negatively to the illegal behavior of its representatives. However, arbitrariness in the country is prohibited. That is why the monopoly on the imposition of sanctions belongs to the state power. The relevant authorities apply a number of physical, property or moral deprivations to a person, which are designed to prevent the commission of new crimes.
In the legal branch under consideration, the concept of criminal and correctional law plays an important role. Responsibility is considered here from the point of view of positivism and negativism. In the first case, the obligation to comply with the requirements of the criminal law is fulfilled. A social and legal duty is being fulfilled. The state positively assesses the behavior of a person, and sometimes even encourages his actions. Positivism in criminal law is manifested, for example, in the release from liability of a person who voluntarily refused to commit a criminal act. A negative type of responsibility is associated with the implementation of a crime by a person and subsequent repressions.
Many scientists don't take positive responsibility into account. Allegedly, the phenomenon itself is interpreted not as an objective reality, but as a psychological process. It kills its legal content. Negative responsibility has the greatest practical and theoretical significance.
Criminal law
Special attention should be paid to the concept of the source of criminal law - the criminal law. Law is the outward expression of legal norms. At the same time, not all normative acts can be called law. Thus, judicial precedents and by-laws are not among the legal sources. Only major normative acts, such as the Constitution, the Criminal Code or federal laws, can act as external spokesmen for criminal law.
Lawyers have drawn up an official definition of the concept of criminal law. This is a normative act adopted by the legislature or popular vote. It consists of interrelated norms of law, some of which establish the principles and grounds for criminal liability and contain general provisions of the law, while others determine which of the socially dangerous acts can be called crimes. For each formed criminal act, a criminal sanction is established.
So, the criminal law is the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It formed and regulated all issues on the legal branch under consideration. The legal basis of the criminal law is the fundamental law of the country - the Russian Constitution. It is she who defines the concept and signs of criminal law, which are subsequently disclosed in the relevant code.
Criminal law is the only source of criminal norms. At the same time, the law itself is expressed in three forms - three codes: directly criminal, as well as executive and procedural. The first code contains a list of crimes and punishments for them. The Executive Code regulates the direct process of imposing sanctions. Finally, the procedural code establishes the norms of criminal proceedings in Russia. Thus, there are several types of the concept of criminal law.
Procedural Criminal Law
Considering the criminal sphere of Russia, it is impossible not to mention the most important direction - the procedural legal branch. This is aboutthe activities of the judiciary, as well as the prosecutor's office, the investigative committee and the bodies of inquiry. Each of the represented instances investigates and resolves criminal cases. A criminal process is being implemented - the activities of law enforcement agencies regulated by law.
The concept of criminal procedure law is thus a set of social relations in the field of criminal justice. Relations themselves arise between officials and the state, and then between officials and ordinary citizens. Here the difference with simple criminal law is noticeable: an intermediary appears in the form of an official. If the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation lists the types of crimes and establishes punishments for them, then procedural law regulates the way these punishments are imposed on the guilty person.
The concept of criminal procedure law is based on a number of important principles. The first idea is equality and competitiveness of the parties. It is the competition that plays the most important role in the judicial process. The plaintiff and the defendant protect their rights, and the court makes a fair decision. At the same time, the parties to the defense and prosecution are equal before the law, and therefore, before the court. It should be noted that the principle of competition is valid at all stages of the criminal process.
The second idea of the considered branch of law is classical, as it appears in almost all legal areas. This is the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of individuals. However, criminal law somewhat supplements this principle: protection comes fromcrimes, from unlawful and unjustified conviction, accusation, restriction of freedoms or rights.
Criminal Enforcement Law
The execution of the punishment imposed on the guilty person as a result of the criminal process is the main authority of the employees of the penitentiary system. This is an independent branch of law, which is a set of legal norms that regulate public relations for all types of criminal pen alties and the application of measures of criminal law.
There is a small classification that reveals the concept of penal law. So, relations are direct (actually executive) and connected with actually executive. In the first case, we are talking about the direct execution of punishment - subordination to state bodies designed to ensure that convicts serve the pen alties that the court assigned them. In the second case, relations are concomitant with the execution of punishment (in the form of control or supervision over the authorities executing the punishment), preceding (in the form of escorting the convicted person to a colony) and arising from the penitentiary (in the form of resocialization of the convicted person - sending him to his place of residence).
Criminal law, as well as simple criminal law, should be based on the principles of humanity, legality and justice. When applying punishment, employees of the executive system should not harm the he alth or life of the convicted person. All sanctions should be educational, but not punitive.
Methods of criminalExecutive law is exclusively imperative. They are based on relationships of power and subordination. There are also a number of restrictions. Along with them are prescriptions, encouragements, and permissions.
The purpose of the penitentiary system is the correction of convicted persons and the prevention of new criminal acts. The presented goals can be achieved by regulating the procedure and conditions for serving or executing sentences, determining the means of correcting convicts, as well as providing convicts with assistance in social adaptation.
