Commentary on Article 23 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
1. Investigative and judicial practice shows that more than half of the crimes registered in the country are committed under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other intoxication. At the same time, suspects, accused and defendants justify their criminal behavior by the fact that the crime was committed while intoxicated. Intoxication actually weakens a person’s ability to realize the actual nature and social danger of the actions (inactions) being performed or to control them. However, a person who is in a state of intoxication does not lose connection with the outside world, the ability to correctly reflect it in his mind, and, consequently, make decisions about the choice of behavior taking into account the current environment.
2. This explains what is in the comment. The article establishes a rule according to which a person who commits a crime while intoxicated due to the use of alcohol, drugs or other intoxicating substances is subject to a criminal offense.
3. Intoxication is understood as a state of euphoria (high spirits, contentment that does not correspond to objective conditions), caused by a person voluntarily or under duress using alcoholic beverages, narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, other intoxicating substances (potent or toxic substances, inhaling gasoline vapors, etc.). ). This kind of intoxication is also called physiological. There are mild, moderate and deep (strong) intoxication. The degree of physiological intoxication at the time a person commits a crime is not taken into account when determining the grounds and limits of the criminal offense.
4. The so-called pathological intoxication, caused by the consumption of alcoholic beverages against the background of mental or physical fatigue of a person, should be distinguished from physiological intoxication. Pathological intoxication is a type of temporary mental disorder that entails declaring a person insane.
5. Committing a crime in a state of physiological intoxication cannot be taken into account as an aggravating circumstance. Involvement in the commission of a crime of persons who are in a state of intoxication is recognized as a circumstance aggravating the punishment of the perpetrator.
How is drunkenness taken into account when committing an offense (crime)?
Lawyer Antonov A.P.
Drinking alcohol in itself is legal, although it entails negative consequences both for the person himself and for his loved ones and others. Nevertheless, the legislation contains a number of prohibitions for persons who are intoxicated. These include driving vehicles, carrying bladed weapons and firearms (even with appropriate permission), appearing in government institutions and courts, as well as in any public place (on the streets, stadiums, squares, parks, in a public vehicle). The latter is qualified under Article 20.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, and most of the violations committed while intoxicated occur when driving a car. In all of the listed cases, the state of intoxication (no matter what caused it - the use of alcohol, narcotic drugs, psychotropic or toxic substances, etc.) is part of the offense or crime and is taken into account without fail. The source of intoxication does not matter.
The question arises of how the state of intoxication is taken into account in all other cases. There is an opinion among the population that the state of intoxication is a mitigating circumstance. This is usually justified by the fact that at the time the crime was committed the person could not control his actions, therefore, responsibility for them should be mitigated. However, this opinion is not true.
Based on Part 1.1 of Article 63 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the court, depending on the nature and degree of public danger of the crime, the circumstances of its commission and the identity of the perpetrator, may recognize the commission of a crime while intoxicated (alcohol, drugs, etc.) as an aggravating circumstance. The legislator’s logic is explained by the fact that a person, when consuming alcohol and other substances, must be aware of their consequences for the psyche. Therefore, it is considered that a person deliberately puts himself in a state that makes it easier to commit an illegal act or in which he cannot control himself.
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation takes a different position. According to paragraph 31 of the Resolution of the Plenum of December 22, 2015 No. 58 “On the practice of imposing criminal punishment by the courts of the Russian Federation,” the mere commission of a crime while intoxicated is not a basis for recognizing such a state as an aggravating circumstance. The descriptive and motivational part of the sentence must indicate the reasons why the court came to the conclusion that it was necessary to recognize the specified condition of the person at the time of the commission of the crime as an aggravating circumstance.
The issue is resolved in the same way when an administrative offense is committed. According to clause 6, part 1, article 4.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, committing an administrative offense while intoxicated or refusing to undergo a medical examination for intoxication if there are sufficient grounds to believe that the person who committed the administrative offense is intoxicated is an aggravating circumstance. However, despite this requirement of the law, the court is obliged to justify the recognition of this circumstance as aggravating.
In conclusion, it is worth mentioning how the state of intoxication affects civil legal relations. As a general rule, this condition, even with chronic alcoholism, does not in any way affect the legal capacity of a citizen until it is limited by the court at the request of the relatives of this person. In addition, the state of intoxication is grounds for invalidating a will (appeal ruling of the Samara Regional Court dated January 25, 2018 No. 33-727/2018) or an agreement (appeal ruling of the Samara Regional Court dated August 28, 2019 No. 33-10060/2019).
Sincerely, lawyer Anatoly Antonov, managing partner of the law firm Antonov and Partners.
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Another comment on Art. 23 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
1. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not exclude criminal liability of persons who committed a crime while intoxicated due to the use of alcohol, narcotic and psychotropic drugs, and intoxicants. This rule does not apply to cases of committing a socially dangerous act in a state of pathological intoxication and withdrawal (“narcotic starvation”), which refer to temporary mental disorders that do not allow persons suffering from them to realize the actual nature and social danger of their actions (inaction) or to direct them.
2. In some cases, ordinary (simple) intoxication can aggravate a person’s existing mental disorders. If the mental health of a person who has committed a crime in a state of ordinary intoxication is in doubt, a comprehensive forensic psychological and psychiatric examination is necessary.
3. The commission of a crime by a person while intoxicated cannot be taken into account by the court as an aggravating circumstance. At the same time, in Art. 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the state of intoxication acts as a qualifying element of the crime.
What do the doctor's say
A person who abuses alcohol feels a destructive state of intoxication when fusel vapor settles on all internal organs and systems. This fate does not bypass the nervous system, where severe discord, dysfunction, and exacerbation of pathological processes are observed. Most often this is “delirium tremens”, caused by the presence of more than 0.3% ethyl alcohol in the blood. It manifests itself differently in everyone: some alcoholics experience extreme fear, others experience aggression, and still others are bothered by a feeling of infringed dignity and a desire to defend their position. In all cases, among the consequences, doctors do not exclude murder caused by alcohol intoxication.
It is necessary to independently control your condition, to know when to stop, but this does not always happen; it is not for nothing that the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contains an article on such crimes with a mitigating circumstance. In most cases, such murders are of a domestic nature, and occur in a state of passion of an alcoholic. The consequences are not the most comforting - a trial, a verdict and many years of imprisonment. Doctors recommend not to abuse alcohol, since being intoxicated is not a strong argument in favor of a bloody criminal.
Possible crimes
Responsibility for crimes committed while intoxicated extends to adult and minor citizens, however, the terms of punishment have their own characteristics and conditions. A person, when drinking alcohol, loses control over himself, ceases to think adequately, becomes overly excited and extremely aggressive. Among the possible consequences of such inappropriate behavior are the following events:
Responsibility for crimes committed while intoxicated extends to adult and minor citizens, however, the terms of punishment have their own characteristics and conditions
- domestic murder (due to jealousy, aggression, misunderstanding in the family);
- sexual harassment, rape;
- fight causing harm to health of varying severity;
- drunk driving with the most unpredictable consequences for the life and health of civilians;
- deliberate killing of a person.
It is important to note here why such atrocities occur, each of which is subject to a specific article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The degree of alcohol intoxication can be mild or severe, which is a mitigating or aggravating circumstance. In the first case, a person has a vague idea of what crime (murder) he is committing, so for him a prison sentence and other penalties are guaranteed. As for the severe degree of alcohol intoxication, in this case the alcoholic is a “vegetable”, therefore he is not aware of the actions he is committing (murder through negligence is possible). Therefore, when drinking alcohol, you need to be especially careful, control yourself and know when to stop.
Types of criminal liability for murder committed while intoxicated
Taking a person's life is considered the most criminal act. Therefore, such a crime committed while intoxicated is extremely serious and greatly aggravates the guilt.
The severity of the punishment for murder committed by a drunk person is determined by the court based on many factors, including the type of crime and its classification under an article of the Criminal Code.
According to Article 105 of the Code, committing a crime while intoxicated as an aggravating condition threatens the culprit with the imposition of a sanction in the form of imprisonment of the culprit for a maximum of life. If the death of the victim occurred due to intentional harm caused to his health, and the guilt of the offender was expressed in the form of negligence, he may be sentenced to serve a fifteen-year sentence in prison.
If a crime is committed while under the influence of drugs (or another type of intoxication) by a juvenile offender from fourteen to eighteen years of age, the maximum punishment he faces is ten years in a juvenile correctional facility.
For motorists, the state of intoxication is extremely aggravating. This is due to the fact that the use of a highly dangerous product in itself imposes increased responsibility on the owner. If he commits a crime while driving a vehicle, and even while intoxicated, he bears two types of responsibility at once: he is deprived of his rights and imprisoned for a maximum of nine years.
Consequences of the crime committed
The results of the actions of an intoxicated person can be unpredictable. In some cases, people are completely unable to remember where they were the day before or what they were doing. In case of memory lapses due to intoxication, the responsibility for the criminal offenses committed by him is not removed from the guilty person.
In some cases, people feign intoxication for unknown reasons. If, despite a negative blood alcohol test, a person pretends to be drunk, this is the same aggravating factor as being drunk. In this regard, persons portraying alcoholics face increased penalties, even taking into account their sober state.
Any criminal act that was committed by a person who was drunk of his own free will will be regarded as a qualified crime. If we are talking about murder by a drunk citizen, drinking alcohol can lead to life imprisonment.
Forms of guilt
The form of guilt consists of three components: psychological content, social essence and degree.
The content of the psychological type consists of an intellectual and volitional element. The intellectual component is a person’s awareness (or lack of awareness) of the danger of his act for society, as well as the failure to foresee the possibility of negative consequences or the inevitability of their occurrence. If we are talking about committing a crime while intoxicated, the intellectual component here may be reduced or absent altogether (if we are talking about severe intoxication), since the person cannot adequately assess his actions and their consequences.
The concept of a volitional moment of guilt includes the desire for negative consequences to arise (consciously allowing them or being indifferent to them), as well as relying on one’s strengths to prevent them (or their non-subjective failure to foresee them). As in the case of the intellectual moment, committing a crime while intoxicated dulls the will and awareness of the resulting consequences.
The legislator distinguishes two forms of guilt: intent and negligence. Intention is divided into types for various reasons:
- Depending on the work of the intellect, direct intent and indirect intent are distinguished.
- According to the degree of foreseeability of possible consequences, intent is divided into uncertain and definite.
- Depending on the time of formation of criminal intent, there are pre-meditated ones, as well as those that arose suddenly. A separate category is the commission of crimes in a state of passion, when the intent arose so suddenly that the actions were ahead of the thought.
Carelessness is also divided into types: negligence and frivolity.
In the case of frivolity, a person foresaw the possibility of negative, dangerous consequences for society due to his actions, but expected to prevent these consequences on his own, without having sufficient grounds for this.
In case of negligence, the offender, when committing certain actions, did not foresee that they could lead to dangerous consequences for society. Moreover, if the criminal had been attentive and prudent, he would have foreseen them.
Regardless of the form of guilt in the form of intent (direct or indirect) or negligence (frivolity or negligence), the state of intoxication in any case is a qualifying feature.
