According to the theory of criminal law, each illegal act is characterized by mandatory elements and signs of corpus delicti that form them. The properties of criminal acts reflect the features contained in dispositions of legislative norms. It is they who help to classify illegal acts, thus forming the corpus delicti. Its presence is the basis for the guilty person to be criminally liable.
This article discusses in detail all the elements and signs of a crime, the concept and their relationship, classification according to various criteria.
General concepts of crime and corpus delicti
The concept of “corpus delicti” (SP) includes a combination of signs (of an objective and subjective nature) that characterize an act as a crime. In relation to each other, the terms “crime” and “corpus delicti” appear as a concrete phenomenon and a legal concept about this phenomenon.
Crime is a specific act. It has a socially dangerous character and is committed by a certain person in a specific time period in a certain place. And the corpus delicti is a concept. Elements, signs, characteristics of a specific illegal act are precisely contained in the corpus delicti enshrined in law.
The term "crime" contains a description of the socio-political aspects of the wrongful act. They are an encroachment on public relations protected by law . And the term “corpus delicti” is characterized by a scientific generalization of the properties of specific crimes. That is, this concept includes elements common to all and signs of corpus delicti. The ratio of the concepts of crime and corpus delicti can be considered as a basis and its derivative.
The main approaches to the classification of joint ventures
The severity of the criminal offense is determined precisely by elements and signs of corpus delicti, their types. The types of corpus delicti and the criteria for their classification, in turn, are based on various degrees of danger of the act, the method of describing the signs, the features of the description in the legislation of the objective side.
Criminal law provides that a joint venture is:
- basic, qualified and privileged (criterion is the level of public danger) ;
- simple and complex (criterion - structure);
- formal and material, the composition of the hazard (the criterion is the legislative structure).
Characteristics of various types of joint ventures
Basically, it contains elements and signs of corpus delicti that do not affect (do not raise or lower) how socially dangerous the crime is. Qualified composition includes signs that increase the social danger of the act. The privileged composition contains signs that reduce the social danger of the act.
Simple elements of a crime are considered in one plane. And in the case of complex compositions, several objects are meant, several acts, etc. A type of complex composition is an alternative joint venture, in which case several acts or consequences are implied, their presence is sufficient, provided that there are other mandatory signs in order to responsibility has come.
The formal composition indicates only the act itself, and the material - and its consequence.
Lawyers are divided on the affiliation of the truncated composition. Someone believes that this is an independent species. Others, on the contrary, are truncated joint ventures classified as formal. The moment of the end of a criminal act with a truncated composition can be considered an attempt or preparation.
The composition of the hazard stipulates that the end point is the commission of an unlawful act, which, in turn, creates the risk of the consequences indicated by the law.
From the foregoing, it follows that the elements and signs of the crime, the concept and their types follow from the fact that the crime belongs to one of the types, which, in turn, affects the qualification of the wrongful act.
SP value
A specific joint venture means the totality of all the features that are specified in a specific norm of the Criminal Code. They are necessary and sufficient to hold a person accountable for a specific crime.
The value of the composition is due to the fact that it is used as:
- the legal basis for criminal liability;
- the necessary conditions for the qualification of a criminal act;
- the grounds used by the court in the process of choosing certain criminal law measures;
- guarantees of compliance with the law.
Elements of corpus delicti are the criteria that make up the model of crime and prove its public danger.
That is, if there is a corpus delicti, a corresponding criminal liability arises for its commission. A joint venture is a necessary tool with which criminal acts are distinguished from non-criminal. Crime structure - a concept, elements, the signs of which allow determining the category of gravity of the committed act and determine the limits of the punishability of this illegal act.
In the absence of a joint venture, it is concluded that the committed action (inaction) does not contain any signs of unlawful or its composition provided for by criminal law.
Elements of corpus delicti. Characteristics of the object and the objective side
Under the elements of the joint venture are understood all the necessary parts of the structural structure of the unlawful act, which correspond to different parties that affect the determination of the social danger of the act provided for by criminal law. The content of these components of an unlawful act distinguishes crimes from each other, such as attempted murder from theft or slander from insult.
Elements of corpus delicti are presented:
- object;
- the objective side;
- the subjective side;
- subject.
The object of a crime is understood as public relations protected by criminal law, on which the guilty person has encroached. The main feature of the object is, first of all, the subject of the crime, presented as the real thing of the material world, by means of which the person destabilizes public relations. In particular, in the case of theft, property relations act as the object of the crime, and the thing seized illegally as the subject.
Actually, public relations are a reflection of the actual relationship between individuals, legal entities and the state on the implementation of their interests and rights, fulfillment of duties, powers and tasks.
The objective side refers to the peculiarities of the external manifestations of behavioral deviations that constitute a public danger to the behavior of a person that may harm the relationship protected by criminal law. The specific elements of the crime are more accurate signs of the objective side. It is a question of a directly socially dangerous act, consisting in action or inaction, a socially dangerous consequence, a causal connection between a crime and a consequence, as well as the time, place, situation, method, instrument and means of committing a crime.
Object classification
Such elements of a crime, such as objects, differ among themselves in several ways, thus forming a vertical and horizontal hierarchy.
The object can be general, species, generic and direct. Such a division is considered vertical.
A common object is represented by the totality of all public relations protected by criminal law. Concretization is carried out by further analysis and determination of the species, generic and direct object.
A generic object is a combination of social relations that have a homogeneous relationship and are protected by criminal law.
The specific object of the joint venture is considered to be a narrower group of social relations, values ​​and interests of the same type. Such an object is endowed with an intermediate meaning between generic and immediate objects.
The direct object of the crime, in contrast to the previous types of objects, is a specific type of social relationship, one or another good, interest. It is against him that a criminal assault is directly carried out during the offense.
Objects are elements of a crime, which, according to horizontal classification, can be of three types: basic, optional and additional. The use of this division is relevant when, for example, an attack is made on several objects at once. So, in the case of theft committed with penetration into the premises, the right to property acts as the main object, and as the additional object - to the inviolability of the home.
An optional object is a relationship that is harmed in some cases and is not harmed in others. For example, hooliganism always violates public order, which is the main object, and in the case of harm to health, property or the dignity of the person, this violation does not always occur, but depending on the specific type of crime, i.e. it is an optional sign.
Description of the elements of crime: subject, subjective side
Speaking about the subjective side of an illegal act, we mean the mental activity of a person directly related to the commission of the crime. Signs of this element of the joint venture are guilt, motive and purpose. Forms of guilt may vary depending on the motivational side of the act committed, providing for guilt or intent, or negligence.
Subject - an individual who has committed or committed a criminal act and is capable of incurring appropriate criminal liability for him. In Russian criminal law, unlike many countries, the recognition of a legal entity as a subject of crime is excluded. The subject of a crime is a person who is recognized as responsible and has reached the age specified in the law. Separate cases are possible when, according to the Criminal Code, the subject can be endowed with other additional features.
General ideas about the symptoms of SP
Signs of a joint venture are certain, having legal significance properties of an act, the presence of which acts as a prerequisite for recognizing an action (inaction) as criminal.
All properties of a crime must:
- be compatible with each other, in their totality determining social danger and wrongfulness;
- serve as the basis for distinguishing a specific crime from other similar offenses;
- be fixed by law and directly spelled out in the rule of law.
Elements and signs of corpus delicti in the aggregate endow the criminal offense with specific characteristics. If the elements reflect the structural structure of the crime, then the signs are essentially generalized, legally significant properties (traits, features, qualities) of a wrongful act of a certain type.
Classification of signs of SP
According to the classification, signs of joint ventures are:
- objective and subjective;
- obligatory and optional.
Based on the name, it is easy to understand that the attributes that relate to the object are called objective. And with the help of subjective signs, subjects are characterized.
As already noted, the elements and signs of corpus delicti, types of signs are the criteria for the recognition of an act as unlawful. But the role of mandatory and optional features in this process is somewhat different.
Mandatory (main) features of the joint venture characterize all the compositions without exception, that is, are present in each of them. If they are absent in the analyzed act, then this is the basis for a decision on the absence of a criminal nature of actions. Mandatory features include the most important criteria determining the nature of the wrongful act. We are talking about public relations (interests, benefits), the form of an unlawful act (action or inaction), guilt (intent or negligence), the age at which criminal offenses are characterized (usually 16 years), sanity.
A number of other signs are called additional (optional). These are:
- subject of a criminal act;
- socially dangerous consequence;
- the nature of the connection (cause and effect) between the criminal act and its consequence;
- the time of the commission, the environment, the place, the specific method, the tool and the list of means used in the commission of the crime, the combination of motives and goals,
- a set of special features of the subject of the crime.
Elements and signs of corpus delicti, including optional ones, are very important in the criminal process both for identification of a criminal act and for sentencing.
Characteristics of optional features of the joint venture:
- In certain situations that are prescribed by law, they can be re-qualified as mandatory features of the main joint venture.
- They, in accordance with the law, can also be mandatory features related to a qualified or privileged joint venture.
- If it is an optional feature that is not included in the crime and does not affect the qualification of the crime, then it is considered as an aggravating or mitigating circumstance.
There is a certain pattern that distinguishes elements and signs of corpus delicti. Mandatory and optional features of corpus delicti should be clearly delineated. Thus, special cruelty in the commission of an unlawful act cannot be taken into account as an aggravating circumstance for a person accused of murder committed with special cruelty. The fact is that in connection with the qualification of the crime, the punishment for cruelty has already been increased. For comparison: in the case of a murder in which there are no aggravating circumstances, punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 6 to 15 years is provided, and if they are present - from 8 to 20 years.
Thus, the optional features of the elements of a crime, whether it is an object or subject of an unlawful act, are three-fold.
Permanent and variable signs
Stability and immutability are another criterion for dividing the characteristics of the joint venture into two groups, depending on what nature (variable or constant) they are.
Permanent signs include features of a criminal offense that do not change throughout the term of the specific law of the Criminal Code and do not depend on the circumstances of the committed illegal action. Then the variable features are the properties of a criminally punishable act that can be transformed, regardless of the appearance of changes in the text of the corresponding article and other points. Among the variable characteristics distinguish blank or evaluation.
Permanent features are characterized by stability both temporally and spatially, that is, they carry the same semantic load throughout the territory of this law. During proceedings, these properties cannot be ignored.
Thus, the elements and signs of corpus delicti, their types allow us to recreate the full picture of the commission of an illegal act, which is necessary for the final qualification of the crime.