The basis of criminal liability is nothing more than the commission of a crime. The latter should be understood as an act carried out in a guilty manner (in other words, an action or inaction), dangerous to society. What applies to the signs of a crime under criminal law?
Crime category
Before considering what relates to the signs of the objective side of the corpus delicti, it is advisable to parse the definition of this category. Under the crime it is necessary to understand the act, that is, a certain passive or active behavior of a person. It is worth noting that more often it is about action, somewhat less often - about inaction.
What is not included in the concept?
A crime cannot be recognized as an individual's way of thinking, his worldview. It should be noted that even extremely dirty thoughts discovered in some way do not entail criminal liability. However, if a person proceeds with the realization of his own intentions, for example, prepares for the theft of a car, what arises is one of the mandatory signs of a crime. That is why we can state it.
Crime - an act that is socially dangerous. This fact also applies to signs of the objective side of the crime. It consists in the ability of an action to cause significant harm to the interests protected by law. This property fully explains why some acts are considered prohibited precisely under penalty of punishment. For example, theft harms the owner of the property, the sale of narcotic substances threatens the health and life of the population, counterfeiting is a tool involving violation of money circulation in the state, and so on.
Prohibited Act
A crime is far from any dangerous act for the public, but only prohibited by law. This fact refers to a crime sign, which reflects the following principle: “there is no crime if there is no indication of that in the law”. In the criminal law of the Russian Federation, it is unacceptable to use criminal law to hold citizens accountable for a dangerous act for society that is not provided for in the Criminal Code, under articles calling for crimes of similar importance and kind.
Nevertheless, a person’s implementation of an act prohibited by criminal law and posing a danger to society should not always be regarded as a crime. The fact is that there are signs that are not always related to the concept of crime. So, it should be established that there really is guilt, that is, there is an appropriate mental attitude of the individual to action and the consequences that have arisen in the form of negligence or intent. From this we can conclude that a crime is nothing but a guilty act. In other words, guilt is a sign of the objective side of a crime.
Draw a line
Of fundamental importance is the distinction between crime and other types of offenses. The main difference is determined by the degree and nature of public danger. Thus, a crime in any case causes significant harm to the relations that take shape in society, in comparison, for example, with a disciplinary offense or an administrative offense.
The unauthorized use of an official car by a driver for personal purposes (this is a disciplinary offense) and speeding during a trip (nothing more than an administrative offense) are not considered to be a criminal offense. Nevertheless, if as a result of the actions the driver had an accident, and careless behavior on the road led to the death of the passenger, the sale is regarded as a crime.
Nature of wrongfulness
The mandatory features of a crime include a formal feature. In other words, the distinction between the categories discussed above is made in accordance with formal features, according to the nature of wrongfulness. So, if the act is provided for by the Criminal Code, then we are talking about a crime. If it entails responsibility under another law, then this is another offense.
Crime classification
As it turned out, the signs of a crime include a formal reference to the deed in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It is worth adding that such crimes can be classified in accordance with various criteria. For example, according to the form of guilt, it is customary to distinguish intentional acts (banditry, robbery) and crimes committed through negligence (for example, negligence).
According to the nature of the danger to society, there are 4 groups of acts:
- especially serious (for example, treason to the state, banditry or murder, provided aggravating circumstances);
- severe (for example, smuggling, rape or robbery);
- less serious (torture, suicide);
- as well as those that do not pose a great danger to society (arbitrariness or insult).
According to the circle of relations arising in a society to which these crimes are harmful, it is customary to distinguish between such acts: against the individual, against the state, against security for society, against property, against the health of society, against the order of government and so on.
The issue of criminal liability
When a person carries out an act that poses a danger to society, it is necessary to solve the question of whether this individual is subject to criminal liability. We examined what is a mandatory feature of the objective side of a crime. So, to overcome the question posed, the characteristics of the committed act are compared with the features of a specific crime, which are called directly in the criminal law. The signs that the legislator designates in the articles of the Criminal Code to describe a specific crime, it is customary to call the corpus delicti.
Corpus delicti
Under the corpus delicti should be understood the totality of legally significant characteristics of an objective and subjective plan. Everything that relates to objective signs of corpus delicti is provided for in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The corpus delicti is considered the legal standard of certain crimes. Despite the fact that all thefts are different in nature, their composition includes the most significant signs of a crime, and also allows you to clearly describe this act in the current law in the country.
If the signs relating to the subject of the crime, its object and directly to the committed act, as well as the characteristics of the offense coincide, then this action serves as the basis for imposing criminal liability on the guilty. In such cases, they say that the actions of this person have signs of corpus delicti.
Feature Grouping
It is important to know that all the signs of the composition of the act are usually grouped in accordance with four elements: the object of the crime, its objective side, the subjective side, and also the subject of the crime.
The characteristics and components of the composition of the act form unity. If at least one sign of corpus delicti is missing, then it is absent in the general sense.
Object of crime
The object of crime should be understood as relations arising in society. It is on their violation that an act of a certain kind is directed. For example, the theft of property, one way or another, violates the relationship between individuals regarding the ownership, use and disposal of property complexes (in other words, property relations); the theft of explosive substances jeopardizes those relationships that guarantee security in society; the theft of narcotic substances encroaches on those relations that ensure the health of society; the theft of certain things from the grave in any case offends people's morality. You need to know that these thefts contain different types of crimes, because they have different objects of the crime.
Objective side
The objective side of the crime should be considered as a legislative characteristic of the signs of the external plan, which are manifested not only in the act, but also in its results, in the causal relationship that arises between the crime and the consequences. It is worth noting that in this case the objective side is characterized by the following features: the method of the crime, place, time, situation when the action was committed. The legislative characteristic of the deed is determined primarily by indicating the features of its objective side.
Subjective side
Under the subjective side of the deed, it is necessary to consider the individual’s mental attitude to the deed carried out by him, as well as its dangerous consequences for society. Signs of the subjective side of the crime include motive, guilt and purpose. The essence of the deed becomes clear if it is established what exactly caused the individual to commit a crime, what exactly he wanted to achieve, how he related to actions dangerous for society and, accordingly, to their result. Only clarification of the presented features allows us to formulate an objective assessment of the deed.
Final part
So, we examined in detail the concept and characteristics of a crime and its composition. In conclusion, it is advisable to generalize the material. A crime must be understood as a guilty act, dangerous to the public, which is prohibited by the Criminal Code under the threat of punishment. This definition is considered formal. It is given in Art. 14 of the Criminal Code.
Under the signs of crime should be considered the main features that together form the concept of a category. For an act to be called a crime, it must be endowed with such signs:
- Guilty: an act dangerous to society can be recognized as criminally illegal only if it is committed guilty. In other words, in the presence of certain mental relations between persons or a person who is committed to an act, as well as the ensuing consequences due to negligence and intent.
- Public danger is a material sign of a crime. It lies in the ability of the act, which is provided for by criminal law, to cause significant harm to social relations (i.e., objects of crime), which are protected by law.
- The nature of the danger to the public is nothing more than a qualitative description of the danger, which is determined precisely by the object of the crime. The corresponding part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation according to the lines of public danger is divided into chapters and sections.
- The power of public danger. Here we are talking about a quantitative property, which is determined by the value of the harm done to public relations and which finds its own expression precisely in the articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In other words, the more significant the punishment, the higher the level of social danger.
- Criminal wrongfulness should be understood as a formal sign of the deed, which means the legislative expression of the rule "there is no crime if there is no indication of this in the law." As a crime, only behavior specifically provided for in the definitions of the relevant articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation can be considered.
- Punishment is nothing more than the prohibition of criminal acts dangerous for society. This symptom does not only mean declaring a ban on the performance of actions, but provides that an appropriate punishment will be established for their commission.
So, the article summarized the list of signs of a crime. It is worth noting that it is these characteristics that are prescribed in the Criminal Code in force on the territory of the Russian Federation.