What is criminal liability? Coming from how many years, in relation to whom and on what basis? All these issues are quite specific and excite many people, despite, it would seem, their simplicity and clear regulation. Citizens are especially concerned about the age at which a person becomes the subject of a crime and can be punished, because it is this criterion that often serves as an assistant in evading obligations to the state and society.
Criminal liability. Concept and Features
The commission of any offense, whether it is a crime or not, has its consequences. Depending on the severity, it is possible to determine which law will be applied in order to suppress and eliminate negative behavior. There are many options, but the most common, unfortunately or fortunately, is criminal liability. It is most often understood by it as the application of measures of state coercion to a person guilty of a crime.
What exactly is done by the authorities in the implementation of this institution? All possible sanctions are clearly fixed in the law and do not allow deviations. There are even those measures that are not without the attention of the legislator, but are completely unacceptable in practice. There are also many problems in this area. The most popular one that gives rise to criminal liability. It comes from how many years, that is, when? This often causes controversy among practicing lawyers.
Grounds
However, such means cannot be resorted to unreasonably. The slightest deviation from the procedural rules entails the collapse of the whole case, which does not have a beneficial effect on statistics in general. So, the only basis for criminal prosecution is the existence of a crime, that is, all subjective and objective signs. The absence of one implies the absence of the whole thing.
There are many questions connected with this institute. Since how many years has criminal responsibility begun in the Russian Federation, what is the procedure for its application? Of course, these aspects should be covered especially carefully, which the legislator does. The Criminal Code very clearly and in detail describes the important points, setting independent standards on them, as an example, article 20 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which will be discussed below, can happen.
Differentiation of criminal liability
In the theory of criminal law there is no clear classification of this institution. He does not allow subspecies or any other similar deviations. Moreover, there can be no division on the grounds, since it is one at all, which completely simplifies work in this area. However, scientists still resorted to some methods and were able to differentiate criminal liability.
In any distinction should be a general criterion, which will be the impetus for the determination of individual specific species. In the case of criminal liability, they are served by the degree of public danger of a particular crime committed. Pretty simple and even corny. Depending on this feature, there are three main types of criminal liability.
The first option is qualified. This type surprisingly pushes aside simple crimes, as if criminal liability were not provided for them. She comes from how many years she is in this case, also a frequent question, but more on that later. Further, the second type is privileged. The case when the act is committed, for example, in a state of affect. And the third option is exemption from such measures, which is a phenomenon not at all rare for modern practice.
How many years has criminal responsibility come
The age of the offender is one of the necessary moments in the formation of the composition of the act. A lot can depend on this criterion: from the punishment to the question of whether its use is possible at all. So what does the law say? Article 20 of the Criminal Code establishes a clear list of crimes for which a certain age of criminal responsibility is provided, and also says that sixteen years is the common border of bringing to it.
However, there are exceptions. As you know, always when committing a crime, full criminal liability occurs. From what age? Sixteen, as mentioned above. But are there any reservations? Of course. The age of prosecution may be lower, or maybe higher. This question depends solely on what act, who it is and what circumstances were, all this combination determines one of the important compositional criteria.
Upper and lower age limits of criminal liability
Society is often mistaken about certain issues related to current legislation. An institution such as criminal liability is especially popular. How many years has it come, why, in relation to whom, what to do in this case, all this often develops into a complete misunderstanding on the part of citizens. In addition, these misconceptions mostly concern persons who have not reached the age of eighteen.
It is obvious to the lawyer that it makes no difference that the criminal is, say, seventeen or twenty-five. However, some members of the public are convinced that there is a difference, so there is such a question: how many years have juvenile criminal responsibility begun ? So, age remains the same. Sixteen years is a common, but not the lowest, which suggests that almost any person who has committed crimes will be punished.
As for specific boundaries, they are simple. The minimum age limit for criminal liability is fourteen years. These cases are exceptions. For example, murder, rape, theft or terrorism. A complete and exhaustive list is enshrined in the norms of Article 20 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If we talk about the maximum age, then it simply does not exist. Even if the person is under one hundred years old, this does not exempt him from criminal liability.
Problems determining age
The main difficulty practicing lawyers face is the question of whether the person has reached the required years to be held accountable. It would seem that it could be easier than looking at the passport. However, the whole point of the problem is that psychiatrists discovered such a thing as limited sanity, which implies a person’s lag in development so much that he can only be twelve years old in his thinking. In the case when such unique phenomena can be proved, which lawyers often resort to, and difficulties arise in holding a person accountable, and this is regardless of the gravity of the crime committed.