Crimes - acts dangerous to society - are committed by specific people. In each case, individual traits are found, which relate, inter alia, to the characterization of the guilty person. The concept of the subject of a crime under the criminal law of Russia combines the most typical properties of a person committing a punishable act. Let's consider them in detail.
Subjects of a crime: concept and signs
Criminal law formulates the specific features that characterize the person to be held accountable. The subject of a crime in the criminal law of the Russian Federation is one of the key categories. It is a set of characteristics. In the absence of any link in this system, a person cannot be held accountable. The problem of the subject of crime in criminal law at the present stage of development of legal doctrine is associated with the establishment of sanity of the person involved as a suspect. However, this is far from the only issue, the solution of which is fraught with difficulties.
The object and subject of a crime in criminal law
In any composition of the act there are two main parts. They characterize the object and subject of the crime. In criminal law, such a design is considered mandatory for any composition. One part describes the subject on which the assault is committed. For example, it can be health, property, life, law. The second part concerns the person guilty of the act. It formulates, for example, criteria such as the presence and nature of intent. The subject of the crime in the criminal law of the Russian Federation is a living individual. According to Art. 5 of the Criminal Code, it is impossible to prosecute an organization (legal entity), an animal, an inanimate object. The legislation connects responsibility with the ability of a citizen who committed an act to be aware of their actions, to lead them. Only people have such capabilities. If legal entities are brought to responsibility under the Criminal Code, the goals of punishment (prevention of new acts, correction of the convicted person) will be unattainable. This is due to the same fact that criminal sanctions are designed to affect only people.
Ability to be aware of actions
The concept of the subject of a crime in criminal law is closely related to legal capacity. The ability to understand and manage one’s own actions does not appear in a mentally normal person from birth. The optimal age for its acquisition is 16 years. By this moment, a person already has a certain experience, criteria for worldview and perception are formed. At age 16, the ability to understand the nature of their behavioral acts in terms of utility to others arises. Thus, the subject of a crime is a person who has committed an act posing a threat to society, and may, according to the law, be held responsible for it.
AC action
It applies to citizens of the country, foreigners, stateless persons. Diplomatic representatives and other subjects endowed with immunity, when they commit a crime in Russia, will be liable according to international standards. This provision is provided for in Art. 11, part 4 of the Criminal Code. The presence of immunity from prosecution, in accordance with domestic law, does not mean that in case of violation of the norms such persons will not act as subjects of a crime. In criminal law, exemption from liability on non-rehabilitating grounds is allowed in such cases.
Criteria
The signs of the subject of the crime in criminal law are as follows:
- Reaching a specific age.
- Individual.
- Sanity.
These criteria are considered basic. They are possessed by any subject of a crime under Russian criminal law. In addition to the basic ones, there are optional criteria. They have a special subject of crime. Criminal law provides for such persons, as a rule, more severe punishment.
Age
Juvenile citizens cannot act as subjects of a crime. In Criminal Law, the basis for establishing the age at which a person can be held accountable is the degree of consciousness of a minor. Juveniles cannot be sufficiently aware of their actions and control their behavior. The Criminal Code differentially approaches the issue of determining the age at which citizens can be involved as subjects of a crime. In Criminal Law, for most acts full responsibility is established from the age of 16. However, the Code provides for a number of articles in which the age minimum is reduced to 14 years. For example, art. 105 (murder), Art. 131 (rape), Article 205 (terrorism) and others (20 articles in total). All these acts are considered intentional. The decrease in the age minimum is caused by the special social danger of such crimes.
An exception
As a manifestation of the principle of humanism and justice, there is a norm according to which minors who have reached the above age, but who are characterized by a lag in mental development (not caused by a mental disorder), cannot be involved as subjects of a crime. In Criminal Law, the prerequisites for applying the punishment to the perpetrator are his ability to understand his own behavior and manage it. In the described case, due to a lag in development, a person does not have such ability at the time of the commission of the act.
Adults
In some cases, only they can act as subjects of a crime. In criminal law, the special nature of acts is associated with the 18th birthday. They can be committed only by persons over 18. Such acts, for example, include involving a minor in criminal or other antisocial activities, evading alternative and military service, etc.
Additionally
Some formulations correspond to an older age. For example, only a judge can be punished for making a deliberately unlawful decision or other act. That is, among other things, this person must be at least 25 years old. Higher limits are characteristic for doctors, ship captains. Thus, according to age, types of subjects of crime can be distinguished. In criminal law, without exception, the main characteristics are characteristic. Additional properties allow you to select some actions in a separate category. It is called special.
Age setting
When determining it, it is necessary to accurately identify the date, year and month of birth. In special cases, expertise is used. A teenager is recognized as having reached the proper age in accordance with the expert’s opinion on the minimum number of years. If his date of birth is exactly known, then the countdown begins on the day after the official date of birth. If experts call only the year, then the birthday will be the last day of this year.
Sanity
This is another necessary criterion that the subject of crime must have. In the criminal law of the Russian Federation, only sane persons can be punished for their deeds. Compulsory medical treatment may be applied to insane citizens. It is not considered a punishment. Sanity is a mental state in which a person in the process of committing an act is able to understand the nature of acts and manage them. We are talking not only about the awareness of the actual, but also the social significance of the actions and the conscious management of them. This is characteristic only of mentally healthy and mentally healthy people.
Medical and legal criteria
They are used in criminal law to clarify insanity. Legal criteria are determined by the court. The body authorized to consider a criminal case evaluates the person who committed the act as incapable of understanding and managing the nature of behavioral acts. By medical criteria, the causes of this condition are revealed. As them, in particular, are soreness of the psyche, a lag in development. At the same time, not every violation is recognized as a sign of insanity. Only those that at the time of the commission of the act prevented a person from being aware of their behavior are taken into account. For example, a criminal has signs of oligophrenia, a stage of mild debility. According to experts, this disease did not exclude the possibility for a citizen to understand the danger of their actions and the ability to lead them. Based on the opinion of experts, the court finds the subject sane.
Special subject of crime in criminal law
Along with sanity and an appropriate age of responsibility, the perpetrator may possess, as mentioned above, additional characteristics. They can be specified in the law or directly proceed from the norms. These signs limit the range of actors that may be involved in specific crimes. Such criteria go beyond the general requirements. They characterize various properties of a citizen.
Specification of compounds
The legislator formulates a special responsibility regarding certain acts. There are several reasons for this. First of all, in reality, certain crimes can be committed only by certain entities. A number of acts reach a level of public danger, which necessitates strict punishment only when they are carried out by a person who has specific criteria. For example, a non-official may receive a bribe. But public danger arises only when an employee of a government agency is involved in bribery, since such behavior destabilizes the normal functioning of the power structure.
Role of characteristics
The legal significance of the subject of the crime in criminal law is enhanced if additional criteria are available. In this case, the role of general (common for all compositions) and special characteristics is different. So, in the absence of at least one of the common signs of corpus delicti is not formed. The situation is different with additional criteria. If the properties of a special subject are not revealed, then in some cases criminal liability is completely excluded, in others, only the qualification of the crime changes .
Classification of additional criteria
Special characteristics can be divided on such grounds as:
- Gender.
- State affiliation (citizen, foreigner, stateless person).
- Marital status (children, parents or people replacing them).
- Attitude to military duty.
- Position status.
- Professional duties.
- Special provision related to the commission of a criminal act (convicted of a serious crime, previously convicted, recidivist, serving a term in custody).
- The nature of the work performed (member of the election committee, employee, whose activities relate to information constituting state secrets, seller).
The development of criminal law has always been accompanied by a steady tendency to increase the number of compositions with special criteria of the subjects. The current Code contains about 40% of such articles. The special part contains 2 chapters in which there are systems of relevant standards. These include, in particular, crimes against state power, the interests of civil service and the activities of local authorities, military service.