A socially dangerous act is a criminal offense provided for in criminal law that harms the object of legal protection. In addition, this is a mandatory sign of any offense.
So, an act is first of all an action or inaction.
Active form
Under the action of criminal law science means socially unsafe, unlawful, conscious, volitional, complex in structure active behavior of the subject of a crime.
Behavior activity is the implementation of some kind of physical movement. More specifically, the impact on the object of the infringement as the muscles, and in a word, signs.
The last two types - the conformative and the verbal - are also called intellectual types of active behavior. The most prevalent form was the form of gestures for committing crimes with complicity.
Passive form
As for inaction, this is a social act, unlawful, conscious, volitional, complex in its structure passive behavior of the subject of the offense.
What reflects passivity of behavior? First of all, this is the failure to carry out any significant actions that are relevant to the criminal law sphere. This is a socially dangerous act that has social significance, determined by the obligation to act.
It turns out that in this case a criminal offense is considered if the subject had an obligation to act, there was a real opportunity for implementation, but he was inactive.
Such an obligation is determined not only by the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, but also by other normative acts. It can flow according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation from
- directions of the law;
- the performance by the perpetrator of official or professional duties;
- other functions taken over;
- unsafe human behavior.
A person cannot be held liable if a criminal act in the form of inaction was committed by a person who is not obliged to act in the relevant situation. In addition, the severity of the consequences that have arisen in connection with inaction is absolutely not important here.
Signs
A criminal act is an action or inaction that has certain signs, among which there is public danger, wrongfulness, awareness, strong-willed character.
Public danger means that a crime always causes harm or can pose a threat of harm.
As regards unlawfulness, it testifies that an act committed for criminal purposes violates the prohibition established by the criminal law norm. In such a situation, only the legislator gains the right to highlight the essential features of a specific act and classify it as criminal.
Awareness is reflected in the fact that the crime of an act takes place only if it is committed consciously. It turns out that the person must understand the nature of the offense and its danger to the public. In addition, the awareness of a person must also relate to a specific object, and harm, which is sent directly to him. Having analyzed this symptom, it turns out that a person cannot be held liable if, for example, he accidentally drops a kerosene lamp and, as a result, a fire breaks out.
Strong-willed character means that a criminal act is an offense committed by a person who is fully capable of managing his actions at the time of its commission.
The complexity and specificity of the offense
The complexity of the act is determined by the fact that any offense involves several stages. You can give a vivid example. A person who decides to kill with a cold weapon first picks the right place. Then the offender approaches his victim at a suitable distance. After that, he directs the tip of the knife to the desired location - to a vital organ. Most often, this is the heart, stomach, head, etc. The last thing he does is strike.
The specificity is that it is not enough for the legislator to bring a person to a specific article of the Criminal Code. He needs to describe specific acts of human behavior, and what they expressed.
Criminal circumstances
These are acts that are aimed at eliminating a possible threat that is created for the object of legal protection. Such an act is the same infliction of harm, which is recognized as socially useful, as well as socially expedient. On the one hand, they fall under certain rules of the Criminal Code. However, on the other hand, they do not have a material sign of an offense, that is, public danger. So, such acts do not bear responsibility under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Circumstances excluding crime differ from insignificant ones in that they are useful or neutral for the public.
Types of circumstances excluding crime
The Criminal Code identifies 6 types of such circumstances:
- Necessary defense - causing harm in protecting the rights and legitimate interests of individuals, society, and the state.
- Damage during the detention of a person who commits a crime - everyone has the right to detain a person who commits an offense. Damage can be both physical and property.
- An urgent need is to harm protected interests in order to overcome the danger threatening a person and other individuals, society, and the state.
- Coercion of a mental or physical nature is not considered a crime if the person subjected to coercion was not able to direct his own actions.
- Reasonable risk. The risk is justified if there is a goal useful to the public, the necessary measures are taken to prevent damage, the impossibility of achieving a useful goal, the absence of a known threat to other people, the environment and more.
- Execution of an order or order - in this case, the responsibility will be borne by the person who issued such an order or order.