Classification and types of corpus delicti in criminal law

In Russian criminal law, each crime is one whole, which consists of various interrelated elements.

One of these parts, which is decisive in the appointment of punishment, are the types of crime units. Classification of compositions in criminal law has its own characteristics.

What is the nature of the crime?

This concept defines the act in terms of the presence of certain circumstances. The elements included in the composition must take place, otherwise the crime will not be as such:

1. The object of a crime is that against which an act is committed.

2. The subject is the one who commits a crime.

3. The objective side - the signs that indicate the external manifestation of the act, available for observation.

4. The subjective side is the criminal's internal attitude to the actions being committed.

Thus, these characteristics are common to all crimes, regardless of the type of deed.

By number of elements

If we consider crimes as the number of signs, then we can single out simple and complex types of crimes (textbook "Criminal Law of Russia" in 2015, edited by VI Chuchaev).

Here it is immediately worth noting that simple contain only a description that does not allow multivaluedness. Thus, a simple composition has no structure.

Complex compounds are a set of characteristics that also have subspecies:

- with alternative signs;

- with biased signs.

If there is a crime with alternativesigns, then, according to the textbook on criminal law, described described signs of the act of type "or / or." That is, the set of actions will be a criminal act if at least one of the elements is present.

Combined signs are described in terms of "and / and". Here, in order to obtain the full composition of the crime, there should be several signs.

For example, these approaches can be noted in the following articles:

- alternative - Article 106, part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;

- combined - articles 162 (set of objects), 131 (combination of socially dangerous actions), part 4 of Article 111 (combining dangerous consequences) and the like.

According to the content

In addition to the above classification, there is also a division of the content of the crime.

There are material and non-material types of corpus delicti in criminal law.

In crimes that have a material feature, there are consequences that are dangerous for society (arts. 105, 158).

As for non-material signs, there are no such consequences, but criminal actions are also subdivided into types.

Composition in the absence of consequences

Among the acts of non-material content are distinguishedformal and truncated types of offenses under Russian criminal law. In the first case, the act in the code is described completely, that is, from the object to the nature of the consequences (articles 120, 125 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

A truncated format defines a truncated view (articles162, 163, and others). Thus, there is a classification according to the nature and presence of socially dangerous consequences. Also, the structure examined shows the difference between the way of describing an act within the Criminal Code.

By danger

Types of crimes in the theory of criminal law have the following structure for their dangers to society:

1. Basic composition.

2. Additional composition.

With respect to the basic compounds, it can be said that on the grounds that this structure contains itself, the act is recognized as a crime.

The additional composition is based on suchsigns that make it possible to characterize the degree of danger of an act and to indicate a measure of punishability. There is also a division by types: qualified and privileged formulations.

Additional composition

The composition of the privileged, as one can understand by name, contains such signs that allow us to speak of reduced punishability. This is noted in articles 106-108, 113 and 114 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In accordance with the signs of qualifiedcomposition indicate an increased punishability of the act. This classification appears to be the main one when imposing punishment for the guilty, since these types of corpus delicti in criminal law are the only characteristic of the act, where all circumstances are taken into account.

If the privileged composition means that the offender can be appointed for a shorter period than foreseen for the act, then, in the presence of qualified personnel, everything is vice versa.

Aggravating circumstances

Any crime can and should be viewed from the point of view of the theoretical provisions of criminal law, that is, correctly qualify.

Acts can be either simple or aggravating circumstances.

Accordingly, on the presence or absence of these events and elements, the measure not only of the danger of a crime but also of punishment depends. Such circumstances are called qualifying.

Almost every article of the Criminal Code describes such circumstances, which determine the types of corpus delicti in criminal law in general.

For example, Article 158 - theft. If it was a secret theft of property (in part 1 of this article), then a simple crime is defined.

In the event that the theft was committed by a grouppersons, or the consequence of the crime, there was considerable damage to the victim, they speak about the presence of aggravating circumstances and, as a consequence, about the qualified composition. Such signs are specified in part 2 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In the third part of this article, there are specialcircumstances that are socially dangerous, and in this regard are classified in a separate category - theft with illegal entry into housing, secret theft from the pipeline or a crime committed on a large scale.

According to the third part, the act will have a particularly qualified composition, since there are corresponding signs.

Thus, in the second and third parts, theft can have not only the named compositions, but also alternative ("or / or").

Extenuating circumstances

Privileged types of corpus delicti incriminal law also have a place to be. This means that the main act (for example, murder) was committed in the presence of special circumstances, when it was impossible to do otherwise, or in the presence of other related events.

For example, Article 108 of the Criminal Code describes illegaldeprivation of human life. But unlike article 105 here is considered such murder, which was committed as a result of the necessary for the preservation of their own life or property of defense. In more detailed consideration, it can be noted that the article describes 2 types: the excess of defense and the excess of measures when detaining a person.

Thus, if the murder was committed in thethe moment when a person had to defend himself or defend his family, the crime is not classified according to Article 105 with the presence of aggravating circumstances, but under Article 108, which has already provided for a privileged composition with an appropriate penalty.

Application

In criminal law and judicial practice, an aggravating or mitigating circumstance is never applied separately if it is already provided for in the relevant article.

That is why it is necessary to take into account the concept, types and elements of the corpus delicti in order to apply the correct classification and prescribe punishment.

It is impossible, for example, to classify the murder of two persons in part 2 of Article 105, and at the same time, when assigning punishment, to take into account the deprivation of life of several persons as a separate aggravating circumstance.