A material sign of a crime is, as indicated in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in Article 14, the commission of a dangerous public act prohibited by the code and punishable. Crimes, the consequences of which threaten society, contain social, qualitative criteria for misconduct. They express material essence and an explanation of why they are recognized as dangerous. A material sign of a crime is the presence of damage caused in mutual relations to business entities that are under the protection of the criminal law.
The relationship of legal concepts
The concepts, signs and types of crimes are important not only in the doctrine of criminal law. The significance of theoretical constructions is determined for law enforcement agencies when they:
- evaluate the perfect act;
- referred to a crime;
- hold individuals accountable.
The material features of a crime are important, like the rest of the provisions in the theory of law, for lawmakers when they create new legal norms and amend existing laws.
What is considered a crime?
Jurisprudence reveals the concept of crime from two sides:
Russian law indicates an act of proven guilt, which is dangerous for society, for which punishment is provided by law. Jurists also did not go far with a formal approach to the question of where they left the classification to the discretion of the court. The judge in the course of the proceedings determines, by what provision, the act of passing a verdict on deprivation of liberty for an unlawful act. Another approach to the material signs of a crime: is or meets the offense with these criteria. Through their definition, an unlawful act is considered. Criminal law combines both concepts with extenuating circumstances. The norms contain a clause on signs of insignificant, not representing public danger, not containing a formal line of crimes, therefore they are not classified as such and are not prosecuted for them.
Characteristic properties
The signs of the material corpus delicti are:
- the existence of action or inaction;
- causing public danger or threat;
- wrongful misconduct;
- proof of guilt;
- punishment for consequences.
Only human action can lead to a crime expressed in an objective form. Some dreams, the planning of malicious commitments without external expressions that are actually or actually not put into practice, are not recognized by law as offenses. A criminal-law nature of misconduct becomes, if it contains all the mandatory signs of the material corpus delicti.
What should be understood as public danger?
If there is any threat to society, it is characterized qualitatively and quantitatively. In this case, the main material sign of a crime is the presence of public danger, the actions causing substantial harm in relationships protected by legislative provisions. Under the qualitative characteristic should be understood:
- robbery;
- physical violence;
- avoidance of obligatory payments: taxes, alimony, loans.
A quantitative indicator determines the level of public danger, it depends on the circumstances:
- method of perfect action;
- the amount of harm done;
- the severity of the consequences;
- degree of participation in the crime.
Not all actions fall under the classification of criminal law, even if they contain a material sign of a crime.
What is the meaning of standards
For the practical recognition of misconduct under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, it is not enough to have only formal certainty with criminal abuse, which is described by the Special Part of the Code. Any similarities with this branch of law may be considered insignificant by legal proceedings. For example, a man took a notebook from a store counter and forgot to pay. His act is not dangerous to society. If the offense does not belong to a criminal offense, legal liability occurs:
- administrative
- disciplinary;
- moral.
When the law indicates that there is no public danger in the actions of a person, this does not mean that it is absolutely absent. Here, only the boundaries in the classification are indicated, where it is necessary to determine the presence and what sign of a crime is material.
The idea of wrongfulness
Criminal illegality includes actions that prohibit the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Applying criminal laws by analogy is prohibited. Unlawfulness should be understood as formal features that cannot be separated from socially dangerous activities. The legislature on behalf of the state determined that it is impossible to effectively deal with criminal offenses without the use of legal methods, by prohibiting them with strict punishment if they are committed. When the reasons changed the nature of the crime, the grounds lost the public threat, decriminalization is possible. Wrongfulness is closely linked to public danger, inextricable social and legal characteristics.
What is guilt?
Article 5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation indicates that guilt is a sign of a crime. If there is no fault in causing damage, it is impossible to impute criminally responsible liability. Article 24 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation refers to methods for determining guilt. A person can be recognized as such if he committed a crime dangerous to society in a deliberate or careless way. Without proven guilt, a citizen is not subject to criminal conviction. Evidence is classified according to the objects with which the criminal interacts, encroaching on:
- life, health;
- freedom and dignity;
- public safety.
Categories are categorized according to the severity of the committed criminal act. Guilt can be determined by form of intent:
- direct;
- indirect;
- by negligence, frivolity.
In order for a citizen to be found guilty, he must be aware that after his actions unfavorable consequences will occur in any of the above forms. The external reflection of the crime contains its objectivity and subjectivity, showing internal processes.
Crime and Punishment
Under criminal law, punishment must be determined for violation of the rules and for unlawful acts dangerous to society. In practice, it is impossible to implement sanctions for all cases in the field of criminal acts. It depends on the effectiveness of law enforcement, the recording of incidents and the disclosure of atrocities. Punishability should be understood as the possibility of applying legislative standards in order to appoint a punishment. It should be noted that the law provides for the exemption from liability of persons who committed unlawful acts, if they qualified as criminal. To do this, consider the privileged composition: the age of the offender, the presence of young children and the degree of threat to society. In each case, the crimes described in the criminal law are referred to. They can be described as dangerous actions for society, for which various levels of collection are envisaged.