In the theory of law, such concepts as offenses and illegal acts are distinguished. Despite the presence of a number of common features, these terms are not identical. Let us further consider the features of a socially dangerous unlawful act.
Terminology
An act committed unlawfully is an act committed in violation of the provisions of the law. It can be expressed in the form of inaction or action.
An unlawful act is an unacceptable behavior of a subject of law. Wrongfulness is considered an external form of expression of the harmfulness of actions / inaction. Behavior that violates the law requires legal liability. When determining the type and amount of the sanction, the most important principle is taken into account - the person’s action / inaction is not considered a violation if the law does not indicate this accordingly. The wrongful act must be proved.
Enforcement nuances
A wrongful act is an act caused by social harm and generated by it. In the absence of this connection, the behavior of the subject cannot be considered illegal.
Currently, there is an opinion that a dangerous illegal act takes place in any case when the law prohibits the commission of certain actions. Meanwhile, this position requires clarification. The fact is that this approach, which was considered a law enforcement and law-making doctrine, often generated offenses. Consequently, entities whose activities benefited society were held accountable.
Qualification specifics
It must be emphasized that an unlawful act is a complex legal structure. It should highlight at least 2 aspects.
First of all, unlawfulness is considered an objective form of expression of a socially dangerous action / inaction, its external side. This means that the act must be officially recognized as illegal.
Secondly, wrongfulness is an objective characteristic of an offense. This means that any illegal action / inaction infringes on the social benefits represented by law. This, in particular, is about the interest protected by law, the order established in certain relations and supported with the help of special legal tools. The offense is inherent in what is condemned by law. In this sense, wrongfulness is inseparable from social danger, harmfulness.
In the formal logical sense, this can be expressed as follows: "everything that is socially dangerous is contrary to law." Accordingly, one can formulate the opposite position: only those acts that carry public danger are recognized as contradicting norms.
Exceptions
In practice, you can observe 2 types of deviations from this design. Firstly, the commission of unlawful acts is not always a public danger. Secondly, not all harmful actions / omissions are illegal. Both of these situations are undesirable and indicate the importance of an adequate combination of unlawful and harmful in current standards.
Signs of an unlawful act
In order to apply the punishment established by the norms to a person, it is necessary to prove that he is involved in an objectively wrongful act. Public danger is recognized as a material sign, since it characterizes the deed from a social point of view.
However, why, out of a huge number of people’s actions, the legislator considers only those that are fixed by norms to be unlawful and criminal? Obviously, these acts are recognized as socially dangerous, that is, they pose a certain threat to the state and society, since they violate the established rule of law.
Any unlawful act is considered harmful. Crime, however, is characterized by the highest degree of danger. It is determined by the nature of the legal relations against which the assault is committed, the volume and significance of the damage, the specifics of the act itself, and in some cases, by the individual characteristics of the subject who committed it.
Recognizing a certain action / inaction as criminal depends on the consciousness and will of people who make laws. This activity endows the public danger with the properties of wrongfulness. Consequently, the competent state authorities have the opportunity to wage a systematic struggle against such acts and apply coercive measures.
Criminal law
Wrongfulness is considered not only public, but also a state reaction to an action that is recognized as socially dangerous only in the minds of citizens. It follows from this that classifying an action / inaction as unlawful presupposes its official recognition as such at the state level. The establishment of a ban on its commission in criminal law indicates a significant degree of public danger.
Features of liability for an unlawful act
By introducing criminal law into the legal system, a specific social good is protected. However, if the need for this has disappeared, due to the fact that the subject has ceased to be considered socially dangerous, the goal of the regulatory warning is recognized as achieved.
Article 7 of the Criminal Code significantly limits the application of protection of social benefits in comparison with the previously existing 50 norm of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. The subject who first committed a crime of moderate or minor gravity may be exempted from criminal liability. For this it is necessary to establish that in connection with a change in the situation, the guilty person or the act committed by him ceased to be socially dangerous.
Currently, the Criminal Code clearly separates the grounds for exemption from punishment and responsibility. The Code contains several articles, according to which the subject can be relieved of responsibility or duty to be punished on grounds not related in any way to changes in the situation.
Article 77 deals not with any crime, but only with those related to acts of light or medium gravity and only if the situation changes to such an extent that the subject or act ceases to be dangerous and, therefore, the application of criminal punishment will be clearly inappropriate .
If conditions change so that the threat to society disappears, then the law should be amended first. Otherwise, the judge will be put above the rule of law and instead of the legislator will be able to assess the danger of a crime. The judge does not and cannot have such powers. Otherwise, it will lead to lawlessness and arbitrariness.
As for changing the degree of danger of the identity of the perpetrator, it is quite possible. In such a situation, the application of criminal sanctions against him becomes impractical. The punishment practically and formally cannot ensure the achievement of the goals of the warning, since the person independently and consciously complies with the requirements of the law, even after its violation. Subject corrected himself without taking responsibility.
With the disappearance of personal danger, the imposition of sanctions will be unjustified cruelty.
Priority criminal law
It must be said that an action prohibited by criminal law provisions cannot be permitted by the rules of another legal industry. For example, if a citizen is disabled or elderly, he cannot be obligated to provide assistance to his elderly parents. Accordingly, he cannot be held liable for failure to fulfill maintenance obligations. The sale and purchase agreement cannot be recognized as fraud if it was drawn up in accordance with civil law standards.
However, it should be taken into account that the absence of a ban in a criminal norm cannot be an obstacle to the prohibition of an action by the provisions of another legal industry. For example, a person acting in an emergency is not exempt from liability.
Signs of crime
A crime is recognized as guilty of an act dangerous to society, prohibited by criminal law under the threat of punishment. This definition has a material and formal character.
Crime is a type of human activity, objectified and outwardly expressed illegal will of the subject. To recognize an act as a crime it is necessary to establish the following features:
- Public danger.
- Wrongfulness.
- The punishability.
- Guilt.
These signs reflect the content of the assault. They allow you to distinguish a crime from other behavior that is not consistent with the norms of law and morality.
Public danger
It represents the ability of an act to harm public relations. The presence of this property allows you to evaluate the behavior of a person from the position of a particular social group or the whole of society.
Any offense carries a threat. Crimes differ in the degree and nature of the danger. The last property determines a qualitative feature, content, essence of the act. The key criterion for differentiating crimes according to the level of danger is considered an object of encroachment.
The degree of danger is a quantitative indicator. It is expressed in various qualifying compositions. For example, there is a theft committed by a group of entities previously conspiring, or a theft involving an organized group.
Classification of attacks
Since ancient times, criminal law theory has distinguished crimes against society, public and private. In accordance with this classification, several groups of acts are allocated in the Criminal Code, for each of which an independent section of the Code is provided.
The separation of crimes into reckless and intentional is of practical importance. For this classification, a criterion such as the form of guilt is used.
The Criminal Code also identified categories of crimes depending on severity: small, medium severity, grave and especially grave acts. The first three groups may be intentional or reckless. Particularly serious crimes can only be committed intentionally. This classification is important both for the legislator and for subjects of law enforcement. The Criminal Code provides for special constructions of convoys that comply with sanctions, which are established depending on the severity of the attack.