Almost the entire life of a modern person is regulated by law, which is a combination of legalized moral norms. This fact is largely positive, since the activities of people are coordinated quite effectively and, most importantly, promptly. The key factor is the focus of regulation. The bottom line is that law directs its action not so much on human behavior as on its immediate actions.
If you look, then we all today carry out our activities in this or that area on the basis of legal norms prescribed in the current legislation. However, it is worth noting the fact that not all human actions are positive or neutral. Quite often, people violate the current legal regime. Depending on the severity, such situations qualify as minor torts and crimes. Recent deeds are the most pernicious. For them, the existing regulations provide for special legal liability.
But in order to identify and recognize a crime, a specific action must be characterized in a certain way. In other words, it is essential that a key element is present - the corpus delicti. The concept and meaning of the category will be presented later in the article, since it is a key institution in modern criminal law.
Definition of the criminal law industry
The composition of the crime, the concept and meaning of which is presented in the article, is an institution of the criminal branch of jurisprudence. In order to understand in detail all aspects of the institution, it is first necessary to identify the features of the regulatory sphere in which it is present. Thus, criminal law is a holistic system of legal norms that coordinate relations generated by criminal acts. In addition, the industry also extends to the process of sentencing, as well as the involvement and release of liability of the appropriate type. In this case, the question arises of what role the crime plays in criminal law. Today this category is the main one.
Concept and crime
According to the established criminal law doctrine, a crime is the most serious form of violation of the legal regime. Its destructiveness is due to the impending level of social danger. In other words, the act of committing such an offense causes severe damage not only to the injured party, but to the entire society. After all, a crime is a gross non-observance of those norms that are prescribed by the legal regime that prevails in the state. In accordance with this approach, a person who is the implementer of a criminal act lends himself to the highest degree of legal liability. But do not forget that the presented category exists within the framework of the legal industry. This leads to the presence of certain factors.
Signs of Crime
There are several key aspects, the presence of which indicates the presence of a socially dangerous act. These signs include:
- enshrined in criminal law;
- highest level of public danger;
- the guilt of the person who committed the act;
- crime unlawfulness.
The presence of the presented signs indicates that the person carried out a socially dangerous act. However, the crucial importance of the corpus delicti should also be noted in this matter. A category is not a sign of a crime, but its absence will not allow classifying the act as socially dangerous.
The concept and meaning of crime
Any socially dangerous act is a structure whose elements are interconnected. However, the composition is something larger than a conventional system. The corpus delicti in criminal law is an integral totality of signs of a subjective and objective nature. Moreover, these signs are enshrined in the norms of criminal law. In the context of the industry, the elements of crime are of paramount importance.
Thanks to such a combination of objective and subjective signs in practice, it is possible to determine the actual danger of an act for society and the injured party. In other words, a search for a system of these features in a specific situation will make it possible to understand the question of whether it is necessary to apply legal measures to a person or group of people. As a rule, the corpus delicti, the concept and meaning of which is presented in the article, is identified by special investigative bodies.
Doctrinal concept
It should be noted that the concept of the composition of the most dangerous act is not enshrined in regulatory acts of the industry. That is, almost all existing interpretations are doctrinal. They are derived by various scientists in the process of their subjective analysis of the provisions of the category. Moreover, the concept and significance of the corpus delicti, or rather, individual “sketches” of these categories, can be quite found in the structural parts of criminal law. For this reason, the corpus delicti is a combined phenomenon.
It should be noted that the earliest mention of the existence of a crime dates back to the 16th century. Already in those days, people realized that a person could be found guilty of committing a socially dangerous act only if this at all took place. Thus, the significance of the general concept of the corpus delicti is rather large, if we take into account the invaluable benefit of the category in the conditions of practical activity of special law enforcement bodies.
Category structure
The corpus delicti, the concept and meaning of which for criminal law are discussed in the article, is a systematized category. In other words, it is characterized by several points. The composition of any criminal act includes certain elements, namely:
- subject;
- an object;
- subjective side;
- objective side.
The bottom line is that each of the presented elements has its own characteristic features and scope. In addition, the presence of all four parts of the composition is a mandatory rule for recognizing a specific socially dangerous act as a crime. The absence of at least one of them will not allow you to properly qualify a particular event and, as we understand it, bring the perpetrators to justice.
Features of the subject of crime
Any legal relationship is based on the actions of certain parties, which may be individuals or legal entities. The concept and significance of the corpus delicti presented above makes it possible to highlight the fact that any crime is a kind of act or the interaction of certain entities. They, in turn, have a number of unique properties. For example, the subject of a crime can only be a physical person. In addition, the subject must reach the age of criminal responsibility, that is, 16 years. Moreover, there are lower age limits for criminal liability. They are usually applied to certain socially dangerous acts.
In addition, the fact of sanity, in other words, the ability of a particular person to be aware of his actions and control them at the time of the direct commission of a crime, plays a key role in qualifying a subject. It is worth noting that the absence of the fact of sanity will not allow a person to be found guilty of a socially dangerous act.
As for the legal status of individuals, there are no exceptions. The subject of a crime can be both a citizen of the Russian Federation and other persons, for example, bipatrides, stateless persons, foreigners. The main thing is that the act was committed on the territory of the Russian Federation. This legal factor allows maintaining order among all segments of the population of the Russian Federation.
What is the subjective side?
The concept and criminal legal significance of the offense indicates that the category is systemic. In turn, its elements also represent structures that are characterized by certain features. For example, the subjective side of the crime is directly related to the person who committed the socially dangerous act. However, this element of the composition characterizes the mental component of a particular situation. That is, this element is an indicator of the criminal’s internal attitude to the committed act. The subjective side includes criminal law categories such as guilt, intent, motive, purpose, etc.
Identification of an element of corpus delicti plays a great role for law enforcement practice. Indeed, on the basis of the subjective side, one can determine the actual severity of a socially dangerous act. In addition, this element of the composition in many cases is a decisive factor in the implication of a specific norm of the criminal law. For example, on the basis of intent and guilt, they distinguish between ordinary killing and causing death by negligence.
Object of socially dangerous act
The composition of the crime, the concept, elements, types, the significance of which was presented in the article, is a legal relationship that arises and directs its action to a specific object. But in practice, this element is often characterized incorrectly. The bottom line is that the object of the crime is not the subject of the material world. These are specific social relations regulated by the current legislation, on which an encroachment was committed.
For example, the object of theft or robbery will be relations in the sphere of property rights, and not property that was illegally seized. At the same time, scientists distinguish the presence of several objects in certain crimes. For example, the direct relationship, which is infringed upon robbery, will be the right of ownership, as we previously found out. But an additional object will be human life and health, because a crime of this kind in all cases is realized with the use of violence.
The qualification of this crime object plays a key role in determining the specific type of socially dangerous act. In addition, on the basis of the object, all crimes are classified into groups in the criminal law.
The objective side: concept, meaning
The fourth main element of the crime is the objective side. It characterizes an independent aspect of a specific crime - a criminal act.
The objective side makes it possible to understand whether there are negative factors that make it possible to apply criminal liability standards. The characteristic of this element is realized by identifying three key points:
- public danger of the actions of the offender;
- dangerous consequences;
- causal relationship between consequences and actions.
Together, these aspects allow us to talk about the existence of the objective side of the crime in certain actions of a particular person.
The main types of compounds in the theory of UP
The concept, elements, signs, significance of the offense are all important components of the scientific and practical category presented in the article. However, it is worth noting the fact that the identification of certain aspects of this phenomenon is effective only in practical activities. In the scientific community, the composition is considered as a holistic criminal law institution. Thanks to this approach, scientists distinguish its species.
If we analyze in detail the concept of the corpus delicti, the signs, the significance of this category, it is quite possible to see different typologies of this phenomenon. To date, the main, qualified and privileged species are distinguished. In the first case, we are talking about the most typical actions of a particular person. A qualified composition characterizes an act with aggravating signs, and a privileged one - with mitigating ones.
Material and formal types are also distinguished. In this case, the classification is based on the onset of consequences of a socially dangerous nature. Thus, the concept, elements, and significance of the corpus delicti, although they are established aspects, they do not affect the emergence of new species branches of the category.
Output
So, we analyzed the concept, signs, types, value of corpus delicti. Thus, we can conclude that the presented institute of criminal law of the Russian Federation is of great importance both for the theoretical and practical fields. Therefore, its modernization is an urgent issue for many years to come.