The Criminal Code provides for penalties for a variety of crimes. Especially dangerous are attacks on human health and life. In particular, we are talking about murder and intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm. But if with the qualification of the first crime there are most often no problems, then with the second act the situation is somewhat different. Let us further consider the features of holding liable for intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm.
General information
The concept of intentional infliction of grievous harm to human health is given in the Rules of Forensic Examination of 1996. In accordance with paragraph 2 of this act, damage is recognized as a violation of the integrity of tissues and organs (bodily injury) or physiological functions or pathological conditions (diseases) that have arisen under the influence of various external factors. The latter include mechanical, biological, chemical, mental, physical and other influences.
Crime classification
Violations of human health provided for in the Criminal Code can be divided into 4 categories:
- Deliberate harm to health (grave, light, medium).
- Torture, beatings, i.e., actions associated with violence.
- Acts related to infection or the threat of infection with dangerous diseases.
- Other attacks that pose a risk to the health and life of citizens.
Key features
Based on the information given above, it is possible to characterize the types of intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm. It can be expressed in:
- Physical injuries, violation of the integrity and dysfunction of the tissues and organs.
- Diseases, including reactive neurotic / mental disorders, drug addiction, substance abuse, sexually transmitted or occupational pathologies.
- The special condition of man. It is, in particular, about shock, purulent-septic state, coma of various etiologies, etc.
The deliberate infliction of grievous bodily harm according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation can be described as unlawful intentional action of one subject aimed at violating the integrity and upsetting of the physiological functions of tissues and organs, causing him pain and moral suffering.
Criminal Code: intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm
The Code provides a separate norm, fixing the signs of such an act and responsibility for it. The punishment for intentional grievous bodily harm is established by Article 111. Normally, there are 4 parts.
The general composition of the intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm is enshrined in part 1. The disposition provides for specific signs of assault, the presence of which entails punishment. Responsibility comes for the intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm, entailing:
- Loss of hearing, vision, speech, a particular organ, loss of any physiological function by any organ.
- Abortion.
- Incorrigible disfiguration of the face.
- Persistent significant disability by 1/3 or more, or a complete loss by the victims of their ability to perform work duties.
For such acts, the perpetrator is charged with up to 8 years in prison.
Aggravating circumstances
They are indicated in 2 parts of Art. 111. Intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm may occur:
- In relation to the victim or his relatives in connection with the performance by the subject of official or public duty.
- In common dangerous ways.
- In relation to a minor or a citizen, obviously for the guilty one who is helpless, or with torment, bullying, special cruelty.
- For hire.
- For subsequent use of the victim’s organs.
- Based on national, political, racial, religious, ideological hostility or hatred towards a social group.
In these cases, the punishment for the perpetrator is tightened. According to Part 2 111 of the Criminal Code, for intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm under these circumstances, a person is charged with up to 10 years in prison. In addition, a restriction of freedom (not more than 2 years) may be imposed.
Highly Qualifying Attributes
A more severe punishment is established for intentionally causing grievous bodily harm, committed:
- An organized group, a group of persons, including by prior agreement.
- In relation to more than 2 victims.
In these cases, the perpetrator faces up to 12 years in prison. Moreover, he may also be charged with an additional restriction of freedom (no more than 2 years).
For deliberate infliction of grievous bodily harm through negligence, which led to the death of the victim, up to 15 years in prison are envisaged. The guilty person may also be charged with a restriction of freedom up to 2 years.
Features of the crime
Deliberate infliction of grievous bodily harm is considered one of the most dangerous assaults after the murder. The overall composition of the act qualifies as a serious crime. In the presence of particularly qualifying circumstances, the act goes into the category of especially grave ones.
The object of the attack is the health of the citizen. An additional object is life, which the victim may lose if he intentionally inflicts grievous bodily harm. Art. 105 provides for punishment for murder as an independent crime. However, if the perpetrator did not intend to take the person’s face, then it is believed that death was due to negligence. Accordingly, this consequence relates to particularly qualifying features of an act under article 111.
Deliberate infliction of grievous bodily harm is characterized by various signs. All of them are given in the disposition of the norm. The list of criteria specified in the article is considered exhaustive. Punishment is applied to the guilty in the presence of at least one of the above signs.
The criterion by which an act is qualified under Article 111 is harm that poses a danger to the life of the victim. If this symptom is absent, then the consequences arising from the unlawful actions of the person are taken into account. These include:
- Loss of auditory and speech, other functions, vision, organs.
- Permanent disfigurement of the victim’s face.
- Abortion.
- Health disorder associated with stance (1/3) or complete disability.
- The disease of substance abuse, drug addiction.
- Mental disorders.
Injuries
They can be a serious danger to the victim. Some bodily injuries at the time of infliction may result in death. Other actions can trigger a life-threatening condition.
The first should include:
- Penetrating skull wounds, including without brain damage.
- Fractures of the base and bones of the cranial vault (closed / open).
- Severe brain contusion.
- Injuries to the spine, including without damage to the spinal cord, abdomen, and penetrating chest.
- Bruising of the brain of moderate severity with damage to the stem.
- Fractures of tubular (long) bones of the open type. It's about the humerus, femur, and tibia.
- Open injuries of the knee and hip joints.
- Burns 3-4 tbsp., The area of which occupies more than 15% of the entire surface of the body.
- Damage to large vessels. We are talking about the aorta, carotid, humeral, subclavian, femoral, as well as the accompanying veins.
- Burns of 3 tbsp., Spreading over an area exceeding 20% of the surface of the body.
The second group includes diseases that have arisen due to the influence of external factors and are complicated by a life-threatening condition, and themselves bear a risk to the health of the victim:
- Shock 3-4 tbsp.
- Coma.
- Extensive blood loss.
- Cardiovascular failure in the acute phase.
- Severe cerebrovascular accident.
- Collapse.
- Hepatic / renal failure in acute form.
- Purulent-septic condition, etc.
Vision loss
This harm is considered life-threatening, but its consequences are grave. Loss of vision is recognized as persistent blindness in 2 eyes or a decrease in vision to 0.04 or lower.
If the victim has lost vision in one eye, then this is considered a loss of physiological function by the body. Such a consequence is recognized as serious harm to health. The loss of the eyeball is the loss of an organ.
Damage to speech and hearing aids
Serious consequences also include harm leading to speech loss. Under it should be understood the loss of the ability to express thoughts with articulate sounds understandable to others.
Another consequence is hearing loss. We are talking about situations where the victim loses the ability to hear spoken language delivered at a distance of not more than 5 cm from the patient’s ear. If a citizen has lost hearing in one ear, then this is considered a violation of the physiological function of the organ.
When assessing the severity of damage to health due to loss of vision or hearing, the possibility of improving them through the use of medical and technical equipment (glasses, special devices, etc.) is not taken into account.
Loss of organ or impaired physiological function
The grave consequences include:
- I will lose legs, arms, that is, their separation from the trunk. Paralysis or another similar condition, excluding the fulfillment of physiological functions, is equivalent to the loss of a limb. Loss of foot / hand entails permanent disability by at least 1/3. Accordingly, it is also considered serious harm.
- Genital damage associated with loss of reproductive function.
Face disfiguration
In case of damage to the front of the head, their severity is assessed according to the criteria given in the Rules of forensic examination. The expert must determine whether the injuries sustained by the victim are indelible. In other words, it is necessary to determine whether the visible effects can decrease or disappear. If this requires plastic surgery, damage is recognized as indelible.
Disability
Its degree is determined by a medical expert based on data from a special table. Persistence should be considered as loss of ability to work either with a definite outcome, when it is irretrievably lost, or with a prolonged health disorder (more than 120 days).
The level of disability in a child is established on the basis of general rules and taking into account how much it will be lost subsequently.
In people with disabilities and older people, the degree is determined in the same way as in almost healthy people. Moreover, the age and disability group of the victim do not matter.
Under the complete loss of professional performance should be understood as a condition in which the subject due to the injuries can no longer perform its functions or work in the chosen specialty. For example, a musician can no longer play, a typist can type, a ballerina can dance. In this case, the victim may work in another area.
If the victim has several specialties, then when assessing the degree of disability, the profession in which the citizen worked at the time the crime was committed is taken into account.
The prosecution for the complete loss of professional performance is allowed only when the perpetrator had the intention to deprive the victim of the opportunity to continue their activities. For such cases, the legislation contains an indication of the deliberate occurrence of precisely these consequences.
Abortion
If we consider this fact as a consequence of causing damage to health, then the period of gestation does not matter. When qualifying an act, the main thing is for the perpetrator to know (understand) what causes harm to the pregnant woman. The condition for imputation of punishment is the connection between the act of the assailant and the terminated pregnancy. Moreover, the latter should not be determined by the individual characteristics of the victim’s state of health.
In such situations, an obstetrician-gynecologist should be present on the forensic board.
Mental illness (disorder)
It is also recognized as grievous bodily harm. In assessing the consequences of harm, the severity, duration and possibility of curing the disorder do not matter.
A mental disorder can be caused by physical trauma or psychological shock if it is directly related to the injuries received or the message leading to negative consequences.
Assessment of the condition of the victim is carried out by forensic psychiatric examination.
Acquisition of drug or toxicological dependence
Addiction is a person's addiction to drug use. Substance abuse is the abuse of drugs that are not related to narcotic drugs.
To impute punishment, these diseases must arise as a result of the illegal actions of the perpetrator, provoking the insurmountable craving of the victim for the use of prohibited compounds. A way to bring a citizen to such a state can be repeated (and in some cases a single) introduction into the body of the corresponding substances against his will. Diagnosis of diseases is carried out as part of a toxicological or narcological examination, and the severity of the consequences and their causal relationship with the act are in the course of a forensic study.
The subjective aspect of the assault
In the framework of the general composition (under Part 1 111 of the article) he is characterized by the intent of the guilty. Moreover, it can be either indirect or direct. The subject of the attack is a sane citizen of 14 years.
The characteristics of the subjective side in the qualifying composition (part 2) are similar to the criteria provided for in paragraph 2 of article 105. Moreover, the actions of the perpetrator are characterized in some cases exclusively by direct intent. The content of the qualifying circumstances enshrined in part 3 is also similar to the similar features provided for in the provisions of Article 105.
Intentional grievous bodily harm resulting in death
This encroachment, in fact, unites 2 independent structures. This, in fact, is about causing grievous bodily harm. The second part is the death by negligence of the victim of a crime. In this regard, it is necessary to clearly distinguish this encroachment from other acts.
In particular, the qualification should differentiate the intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm resulting in death as a single crime with a complex composition and murder, the punishment for which is established by Art. 105-108, on the one hand, and death by negligence, the responsibility for which is defined in article 109 of the Criminal Code.
An act is qualified as causing damage resulting in the death of the victim, if a causal relationship between the action of the offender and the consequences is established. In this case, one important circumstance should be taken into account. The qualification does not take into account the time of death. The victim may die immediately and after a certain time.
The subjective aspect of this assault is characterized by guilt in a double form. First of all, there is an indirect or direct intent. That is, the perpetrator understands or consciously admits the probability of the death of the victim. Secondly, there is negligence in the form of frivolity or negligence. This means that the subject, although aware of the likelihood of death, does not do anything to prevent these consequences, since he expects that he can avoid them.
Nuance
A long period of time that has passed since the moment of death does not exclude the presence of intent of a person to deprive the victim of his life. Similarly, the sudden death of a citizen does not always indicate the intention of the perpetrator to commit murder.
In practice and in a number of legal publications, the opinion is expressed that a large time interval between the wound and the death of the victim excludes intent to kill. However, this point of view is considered erroneous. This is evidenced by the explanations given by the aircraft. The court indicates that the differentiation of crimes should be subject to subjective factors, not just the objective consequences of the assault.
Conclusion
According to the provisions of the Constitution, a person is considered the highest value. No one can be deprived of life under any circumstances.
Causing intentional harm to health is a particularly dangerous crime. It can lead to irreversible consequences, including the death of the victim.Of course, such an infringement should be punished with all severity. That is why in article 111 there is only one type of basic sanction - imprisonment. Moreover, the term of imprisonment even for committing an act without aggravating circumstances is quite long.
The presence of qualifying signs leads to tougher penalties. Moreover, an additional sanction in the form of restriction of liberty may be charged with the guilty person.
When qualifying, it is important to clearly distinguish the act from adjacent or similar compounds. In practice, difficulties often arise in assessing the subjective and objective aspects of a crime. In order to ensure the fairness and lawfulness of the verdict during the investigation, it is necessary to establish all the circumstances of the offense. The actions of not only the guilty, but also the victim himself will be of importance. Often, in practice, the victim of a crime provokes another person, which leads to such sad consequences. Meanwhile, in any case, the law prohibits deliberately causing harm to human health, no matter how he behaves. In such dangerous situations it is necessary to show restraint and patience, to try to resolve the conflict without violence. Otherwise, criminal liability cannot be avoided.