Domestic violence as a social problem and ways to solve it

Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the latest edition:

Article 40 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Physical or mental coercion

1. It is not a crime to cause harm to interests protected by criminal law as a result of physical coercion, if as a result of such coercion the person could not control his actions (inaction).

2. The issue of criminal liability for causing harm to interests protected by criminal law as a result of mental coercion, as well as as a result of physical coercion, as a result of which the person retained the ability to control his actions, is resolved taking into account the provisions of Article 39 of this Code.

Return to the table of contents of the document: Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the latest edition

Commentary on Article 40 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Physical or mental coercion is identified by the legislator as an independent circumstance that excludes the criminality of the act.
Physical coercion is the influence of external forces on a person’s will in order to force him to commit a socially dangerous act. Such influence can be carried out through beatings, torture, causing bodily harm and other methods that cause physical pain and (or) harm to the human body.

In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 40 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, it is not a crime to cause harm to interests protected by criminal law as a result of physical coercion, if, as a result of such coercion, the person could not control his actions (inaction).

The inability to control one's actions can arise in situations where the force of influence on a person is irresistible.

According to the provisions of the law, an act is recognized as a crime if it occurs under the control of the will. The absence of a volitional nature of the acts performed by a person excludes his criminal liability. Causing harm to legally protected interests under duress means committing a socially dangerous act against the will of a person under the influence of external factors that threaten the benefits that are significant to him (life and health). If a person cannot control his actions, he is not responsible for the damage caused in the criminal law aspect.

It seems that in this kind of cases we should talk about the absence of the subjective side of the crime, since the will of the person to cause harm is absent, his behavior is not volitional and, therefore, cannot be regarded as criminal due to the absence of corpus delicti, and not by virtue of Art. 40 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, although in such cases there is both the absence of a crime and the presence of physical coercion. It should be noted that in practice the prevailing tendency is to dismiss criminal cases involving physical coercion due to the absence of corpus delicti.

If physical coercion does not lead to a state in which a person cannot control his actions, then criminal liability is excluded only in the presence of a state of extreme necessity and subject to the conditions of its legality. In all other cases, a person is subject to criminal liability due to the presence of volitional behavior and the absence of circumstances excluding the criminality of the act.

The issue of responsibility is resolved in a similar way in the presence of mental coercion, which is an influence on the human psyche with the aim of suppressing his will. Mental coercion is realized in various kinds of threats of harm both to the person to whom it is applied and to other persons, as well as to society or the state. Deception, bribery, persuasion and other similar means of influence are not recognized as mental coercion. It is possible to directly influence the psyche of a person using psychotropic substances, hypnosis and other methods. With mental coercion, the will of a person is not suppressed to such an extent that he is deprived of the opportunity to realize his actions and direct them. This means that acts committed under the influence of such coercion are criminally punishable (Part 2 of Article 40 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Otherwise, there is no corpus delicti for the reasons stated above.

The issue of criminal liability for causing harm to interests protected by criminal law as a result of mental coercion, as well as as a result of physical coercion, as a result of which the person retained the ability to direct his actions, is resolved taking into account the provisions of Art. 39 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - an extreme necessity.

Both physical and mental coercion are considered as circumstances mitigating punishment (clause “e” of Part 1 of Article 61 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), unless they are recognized as circumstances that exclude the criminality of the act or do not create a state of extreme necessity.

Physical or mental coercion and its criminal legal significance

It is not a crime to cause harm to interests protected by criminal law as a result of physical coercion if, as a result of such coercion, the person could not control his actions (inaction).

By coercion

will be any influence on a person with the aim of limiting his expression of will. Such influence can be exerted on the psyche of a person (for example, through threats, intimidation, etc.) or on his behavior (physical coercion in the form of beatings, torture, illegal imprisonment, etc.).

Cases in which physical or mental coercion excludes the criminality of the act:

there was physical coercion, as a result of which the person could not control his actions (inaction). With such coercion, as a result of which a person could not control his actions (inaction), the will of the person is completely paralyzed, he is deprived of the opportunity to act selectively, according to his own will. Physical coercion may come from another person or be an act of force majeure. The criminality of the act in this case is excluded due to the absence of such a sign of a crime as guilt;
there was mental coercion, as a result of which the person retained the ability to direct his actions. With mental coercion, a person has a choice between two possibilities: to sacrifice himself, his well-being, etc., or to cause harm to legally protected interests. Mental violence does not completely suppress the will of a person, and its impact does not deprive the coerced person of the ability to realize his actions and direct them;
if there was physical coercion, as a result of which the person retained the ability to control his actions.

If, as a result of physical or mental coercion, a person retains the ability to control his actions, then the legality of causing harm is determined:

the presence of signs characterizing a danger to interests protected by criminal law. These include:
reality
(reality) - the danger exists in reality, and not in the imagination of any person;
compliance with the conditions of legality of causing harm that characterize the act, which include:
the danger that arose could not be eliminated by other means;
the limits of harm were not exceeded - the harm caused must be less than the harm prevented.

When determining whether the limits of harm have been exceeded, it is necessary to take into account the nature and degree of the threatening danger and the circumstances under which the danger was eliminated.

Infliction of harm due to force majeure should be distinguished from causing harm due to physical coercion. Force majeure should be understood as a situation when, under the influence of spontaneous forces of nature, animals, mechanisms, people or other factors and circumstances, a person is unable to fulfill his intention and perform certain actions or is forced to perform body movements that are not determined by his will.

Subjective signs

The second group of elements is considered to be a set of characteristics: the personality characteristics of the criminal, his goals, motives, the nature of the guilt - all this will determine whether it is permissible to bring a particular person to justice or not.

The subject of the act in question is only a citizen, not an organization, who has reached the age of sixteen and is recognized as fully sane.

Regarding the subjective side, the procedure for establishing it is much more complicated.

This element reflects a person’s mental and psychological attitude to what he does, the danger his actions pose, and the final negative result. This perception of the situation is called guilt.

This attribute has two forms of existence, which also affects qualifications and measures of responsibility:

Intent. It presupposes a person’s full awareness of his actions, an assessment of the negative consequences and the desire for their occurrence. That is, a person strives for a criminal result and does everything to achieve it. Intention can be direct or indirect, the difference is only in relation to the outcome of the offense, which may have a slight impact on the punishment.
Carelessness. It also presupposes that the guilty person is fully aware of his actions. However, attitudes towards the consequences are changing. If the act of negligence occurs in the form of negligence, then the person did not foresee the negative result, but should have done so due to the circumstances. If in the form of frivolity, then the criminal knows what will happen after he commits the act, but without sufficient grounds for this he believes that the consequences will not occur.

Speaking about the crime associated with coercion to give false testimony and refusal of it, only direct intent is at work here.

Also, judicial practice in the Resolutions of the Plenum reflects the need to determine the goals of the criminal

It is important to establish the fact that the guilty person sought to obtain false testimony relating to a specific case. Threats, blackmail, violence without such a purpose will have a different qualification with the application of sanctions of another article of the law, for example, extortion

Coercion to a transaction and the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

The basic principle of civil law is freedom of contractual relations. In particular, this means that any participant in business transactions has the right to make his own decision on concluding an agreement with a citizen/organization. That is why the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation classifies coercion to complete a transaction as a criminal offense.

Article 179 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation lists actions by which one can be forced to complete a transaction. These include:

violence;
destruction/damage to property;
dissemination of information that is false and defamatory to the honor or business reputation of a citizen/organization.

All these actions will constitute the objective side of the crime. At the same time, the legislator makes one reservation: although violence, damage to property or dissemination of negative information about a person/organization are in themselves criminal, they should not contain elements of extortion - in this case, liability is provided for by another article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Important! Influence for a citizen/organization to complete a transaction can be exercised not only on the direct participants in the agreement, but also on persons whose fate is not indifferent to the coerced party. For example, disseminating information about relatives or using violence against spouses.

In addition to the above actions, threats can be applied to a citizen/organization that influence the will of the injured party to the transaction and push him to sign the contract. True, for criminal liability to arise, the threats must be real, that is, the victim must have reason to fear their implementation.

How to prove the fact of psychological bullying

However, there are still several options that will help substantiate the complaint. Here are some of them:

Doctor's report. A psychologist can determine that family members have developed certain psychological problems - fears, resentments, low self-esteem, and so on - and all this is a consequence of mistreatment by a relative. This method is especially relevant for children. This way, a school psychologist can immediately determine whether there is psychological violence among children in the family or whether everything is fine.
Recorded moment of violence. You can audiotape your spouse/parent's systematic aggressive attacks. The best option is if there is evidence in video format - it will be more specific.
Witnesses. If your neighbors, friends, acquaintances have repeatedly witnessed scenes of psychological violence, they will be able to help you bring the offender to justice.
Sometimes aggressors themselves admit that they emotionally oppress their loved ones. This usually happens when a person is sick, realizes his guilt and tries to improve.

So, if you have collected at least a little evidence, it’s time to contact the police to get protection from psychological violence. To do this, you need to fill out an application in which you should indicate information about yourself and the aggressor, describe the situation and attach evidence. After registering a statement, your case will be reviewed and the offender will be brought to justice.

Victims of psychological violence also have the right to file a lawsuit for compensation for moral damage. You can file a claim yourself, or you can seek help from a lawyer.

However, it is important to know that such cases rarely reach court, so there has not been much judicial practice in this area.

Another comment on Article 179 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

1. The following are recognized as criminally punishable methods of forcing someone to complete a transaction or refuse to complete it:

1) threat of violence;

2) threat of destruction or damage to property;

3) threat of dissemination of information that could cause significant harm to the rights and legitimate interests of the victim or his relatives.

The threat must be real, i.e. the victim must have reason to fear its implementation.

Coercion may be accompanied by the actual use of physical violence. If this violence consists of beatings, torture, infliction of minor, moderate and serious bodily harm, with the exception of qualified grievous bodily harm (parts 2, 3 and 4 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code), then the act is qualified under paragraph “b” Part 2 of the commented article. In this case, the criminal can threaten and use such violence both in relation to the person from whom he seeks consent to the transaction or to refuse it, and in relation to his relatives.

2. The actual destruction or damage of someone else’s property when forced to complete a transaction or refuse to complete it is qualified under the totality of Art. Art. 179 and 167 of the Criminal Code.

3. Information, under the threat of dissemination of which the perpetrator seeks to force the victim to make a transaction or refuse it, can be very diverse, true or false. Making them public can cause significant harm to the rights and legitimate interests of the victim or his relatives. The threat of disclosing information about an actually committed crime cannot be considered as a manifestation of the objective side of coercion to commit a transaction or refuse to commit it, since it is not capable of causing significant harm to the legitimate interests of the victim.

4. The crime in question has much in common with extortion (Article 163 of the Criminal Code). All requirements for concluding a transaction that is completely or partially free of charge for the forced party must be qualified under Art. 163 of the Criminal Code. In addition, the transactions referred to in Art. 179, may be associated with such objects of civil rights as information, intangible benefits, etc. The commented article also covers cases of coercion to refuse to complete a transaction, including under an already concluded agreement.

Irresistible physical compulsion

Irresistible physical coercion , i.e. the present and real inability of a person to direct his actions due to the complete suppression of his will excludes the criminal liability of such a person due to the fact that the act committed by him does not correspond to his will. In this case, the person is not able to resist coercion, since he is, for example, tortured, tied up, etc. A person actually loses free will and becomes a tool in the hands of another person. For example, a car driver, under threat of using a weapon, hands over a car to a criminal; the tied guard does not prevent the criminal seizure of property.

If physical coercion is considered insurmountable , i.e. as a result of it, the person could not direct his actions (inaction); causing harm to interests protected by criminal law is not recognized as a crime , since such an act is not volitional and guilty.

A person who has caused harm to interests protected by criminal law as a result of physical or mental coercion actually acts in this case as an instrument or means of committing a crime, since the onset of socially dangerous consequences is not determined by his volitional behavior. In this regard, according to the rules on indirect infliction of harm (see Part 2 of Article 33 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the perpetrator of the crime is the subject who forced another person to commit a crime.

How to avoid

Psychological abuse can be avoided by following simple commandments.

Before you yell at your child, think about what caused your anger and calm down. After analyzing the situation, calmly discuss everything with your child.
Observe his behavior, what he likes or, conversely, scares him. This way you can develop his strengths as fruitfully as possible.
Encourage his successes, no matter how small. The child must know that he has talents and that he will succeed. Support him in good endeavors.
Talk to your child. Discuss his day at school, his fears, his habits. This way you will get to know him better, be able to understand him and show that you care about him.
Pay attention. At least five minutes between important tasks - ask how you are doing, or give a hug
He will feel needed and loved.
Show love and care
This is perhaps the most important and greatest thing you can do. Let your child know that you love him anyway, that his failures are temporary and he can overcome anything.
And you will support and guide him in this.

Dear parents, remember: the future of your child depends entirely on you. You are responsible for your children, and your actions or words can cause great harm. The main thing is to remember that your child does not owe you anything simply because you gave birth to him and are raising him, and that it is important for him to be needed, loved and valuable to you.

Commentary to Art. 40 Criminal Code

1. The criminal law distinguishes, firstly, irresistible physical coercion (Part 1) and, secondly, surmountable physical coercion and mental coercion (Part 2).

2. Irresistible physical coercion, i.e. the present and real inability of a person to direct his actions due to the complete suppression of his will excludes the criminal liability of such a person due to the fact that the act committed by him does not correspond to his will. In this case, the person is not able to resist coercion (he is tied up, locked up, tortured, etc.).

The coercer as a mediocre performer is subject to criminal liability for the crime committed (Part 2 of Article 33 of the Criminal Code).

3. Overcome physical coercion and mental coercion exclude the criminal liability of a person if, firstly, the coercion was present and real and, secondly, actions under duress comply with the conditions of legality of extreme necessity (Article 39 of the Criminal Code), in particular the condition of proportionality of actions in a state of emergency.

Another comment on Article 40 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

1. Physical coercion involves influence with the aim of forcing another person to commit actions prohibited by criminal law, or to put him in a position in which he is unable to fulfill the duty assigned to him (for example, tying up a watchman, which led to the theft of valuables protected by him). It can be expressed in striking (with hands, feet, head), using various devices (handcuffs, rope, etc.), weapons.

Physical coercion is often accompanied by bodily harm. Causing minor harm to health (not to mention beatings), if it is not accompanied by other forms of physical force, cannot really paralyze the will. However, the ability to paralyze the will of a person is crucial for the qualification of physical coercion, therefore it is necessary to establish whether physical coercion led to the loss of will.

3. The only option for subjugating a person’s will through mental influence is possible through hypnosis. However, the criminal variant of its implementation is practically never encountered, although it is not completely excluded.

Physical and mental coercion.

Physical coercion is understood as such an influence on a person that deprives him of the opportunity to act at his own discretion, i.e. guide your actions. Physical coercion can consist of torture, physical torture, tying up, locking, injection, sleeping pills, etc.

Physical coercion is a circumstance excluding the criminality of an act under the following conditions:

1. presence of physical coercion;

2. the focus of physical coercion on limiting the physical functions of the coerced person;

3. the reality of physical coercion;

4. the irresistible nature of physical coercion. The insurmountability of physical coercion should be understood as the impact on the body or on the freedom of movement of a person, aimed at completely blocking his expression of will and using it as a tool or means to cause harm to legally protected interests. A person is unable to resist such coercion. This could be tying up, locking in a room, using torture, causing harm to health, etc.

Mental coercion is an influence on the human psyche that leads to the fact that the person cannot fully control his actions.

The most common type of mental coercion is the utterance of various threats. Threats can be of several types. Firstly, it is intimidation of a person by the use of violence, illegal imprisonment or restriction of freedom of movement. This also includes threats to commit rape or sexual assault. Secondly, this is a threat of destruction or damage to property, or other threats of a property nature. Thirdly, the threat of disclosing information that the coerced person wants to keep secret, or the threat of committing other actions undesirable for the coerced person.

Physical or mental influence on another person is socially dangerous, is carried out illegally and is intended to force him to cause harm to interests protected by criminal law.

An action or inaction committed under the influence of irresistible physical coercion is devoid of volitional content, therefore it cannot be recognized as an act of this person. Such a person is not subject to criminal liability. The person who exerted the coercion is held criminally liable for causing harm under the influence of irresistible physical coercion.[24]

The legislator does not recognize the insurmountability of mental coercion, but in this regard, the fact that the most intense types of mental coercion are capable of completely blocking the will of another person does not receive proper legal assessment. These types of mental coercion (in addition to hypnosis) include the direct threat of murder, the use of high-frequency generators, and modern psychotropic drugs that suppress a person’s will.

Mental coercion and physical surmountable coercion exclude CR if there are conditions of extreme necessity.

In accordance with Article 24 of the law “on the police”, police officers are subject to this circumstance of an act excluding criminality.

The activities of a police officer are directly related to the fight against crime, including criminal prosecution. This activity may cause mental and physical pressure on the employee in order to terminate criminal prosecution. This may be expressed in the threat of harm to a police officer or loved ones. Under this type of influence, police officers who have lost the ability to direct their actions and have caused harm to legally protected interests are exempt from criminal liability.

However, under the influence of this threat, the employee may terminate criminal prosecution against the person who committed the crime. Article 300 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation prohibits illegally releasing from criminal liability, terminating a preliminary investigation or inquiry against a person suspected or accused of committing a crime. The release of a suspect or accused by a police officer due to pressure on him from the suspect, accused or other persons should not relieve the officer from criminal liability. At first glance, this is unlawful, because if the degree of coercion was so high that the investigator lost the opportunity to direct his actions, then this is a circumstance that excludes the criminality of the act. However, it is necessary to consider this issue from the other side, from the side of the criminals: if physical or mental coercion is exerted on the investigator or interrogator, as a result of which he may lose control over his actions, the investigator or interrogator will have the right to release them from liability. And also the investigator and interrogator, understanding that there will be no criminal liability for this, will be able to release persons from criminal liability. Which could cause a surge in criminal attacks on police officers who are carrying out criminal prosecutions of persons in order to terminate criminal liability. Thus, recognition of this form of protection, in these circumstances, also creates an additional threat to both the employee himself and his loved ones.

In a case where a criminal act was committed due to physical, but the person could control his actions or mental coercion, it will be considered taking into account extreme necessity. Namely, if the harm caused by a person under physical or mental coercion is less than the harm as a result of which the coercion was exerted, then the person is exempt from criminal liability. An example could be

Regarding civil liability for harm caused under physical coercion, excluding the ability to control one’s actions, the issue will be resolved as damage caused in a state of necessary defense 1066 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. In other cases, namely in case of mental coercion or physical coercion, in which a person could control his actions, it will be decided in accordance with Article 1067 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Justified risk.

Article 41 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation stipulates that it is not a crime to cause harm to interests protected by criminal law with a justified risk to achieve a socially useful goal.

The grounds for recognizing the risk as justified are indicated in parts 2 and 3 of Article 41 of the Criminal Code, they are:

1. Risk is aimed at achieving a socially useful goal. A socially useful goal consists in a person’s desire to achieve useful results that are of interest to society and its individual members, to the state, to branches of science, industry, technology, etc.; it should not be abstract, but concrete and achievable.

2. A socially useful goal could not be achieved in any other way - there are no guaranteed ways to solve the problem with a known positive result.

3. The person who allowed the risk took all necessary measures to prevent harm. The person calculates, anticipates possible losses and tries to neutralize them.

4. If the risk was not related to a threat:

a. Causing harm to the health of many people;

b. Ecological catastrophe and ecological disaster.

With a justified risk, there should be no awareness of the inevitability of causing harm, since the risker, taking the necessary precautions, expects a favorable outcome. This circumstance distinguishes this act from extreme necessity, where harm is caused deliberately to prevent significant harm.

Justified risk is perceived as a test of some new device or scientific experiment. However, it is possible in many areas of human activity, for example: transport, energy, mining, emergency services during disasters and natural disasters, ensuring public safety, military service, medicine, and the like. As independent variants of professional risk, we can distinguish economic and commercial risk, which is associated with causing property damage and harm to the environment. In addition to various types of professional risk, there is also justified risk in other areas. These include travel, sports, and leisure.[25]

This circumstance applies to a police officer on the basis of Article 24 of the law “on the police”. The area of activity of a police officer in which he can cause harm in a state of reasonable risk at first glance. But the question arises: “Is this so?” This question is not rhetorical and it is necessary to try to answer it.

Inogamova-Khegai gives the following example, where, in addition to the necessary defense, harm was caused by a police officer at a reasonable risk. “So, police officers, suppressing a particularly serious crime committed by armed criminals (robbery at a Sberbank branch), opened fire, resulting in the death of one of the criminals. There were strangers close to the criminals, one of whom suffered moderate harm to his health.”[26] In this case, the example is not correct, since the police officer shot, despite the ban on the use of weapons in crowded places, thereby violating the condition of the impossibility of a reasonable risk, when the risk was associated with the threat of harm to many people.

A more striking example is the infliction of harm to health, namely beatings of 9 military school cadets during a police exercise on October 26, 2007. “During the exercise, 9 cadets were injured, actively pretending to be hooligans”[27]. In this case, we are also talking about the possibility of causing harm to a large number of people, but there is consent on the part of the victims. A socially useful goal is to practice the coherence, efficiency and correctness of actions of employees of special police departments. Prevention of consequences was expressed in the presence of an ambulance team, which provided first aid to the victims. There is also the inability to conduct such exercises without the risk of harm to health, however, this risk and harm is minimized, since the purpose of the exercise is not to cause harm, but to practice actions.

The activities of police officers conducting forensic examinations may be associated with tests in which firearms or explosives are used. During this examination, harm may be caused to the state by damaging the equipment of the forensic center. If an employee of a forensic center took all necessary measures aimed at preventing harm (acted in accordance with instructions, regulations, inner conviction), then his actions can be recognized as a reasonable risk. However, this harm will most likely be associated with a violation of safety regulations and can be recognized as causing harm with indirect intent in the form of negligence. Also, according to clause 2 of paragraph 2 of Article 14 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On State Forensic Expert Activities in the Russian Federation”, the head of this expert institution will also be responsible. This will be justified if major damage has been caused, or this damage has created a threat to suspend the activities of the expert institution. In all other cases, Article 41 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation can be applied to an expert who caused harm.

You can give an example of a justified risk using transport. So, on April 25, 2010, while chasing offenders using flashing lights, a traffic patrol officer[28] crashed into a truck that suddenly drove out.[29] As a result of the accident, significant damage was caused to the traffic police patrol car, in other words, the destruction of state property. However, the actions of a police officer can be qualified as a justified risk. Since his actions were aimed at obtaining a socially useful goal: firstly, it was the cessation of illegal acts, and secondly, it was arrests and bringing the offender to appropriate responsibility. This goal could only be achieved by pursuing the offender in a patrol car. The traffic police officer, in order to avoid emergency situations, as well as to gain advantage on the road, used a flashing light and a sound signal.

Based on the above, it is clear that Article 41 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation can be applied to a police officer. Moreover, the actions of police officers with a justified risk are primarily in the law enforcement sphere, but as shown from the examples, they can also occur in other spheres of life.

What does judicial practice show under the article?

It is known in practice that Article 40 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is most often applied not independently, but in combination with other articles.

Examples of cases:

Citizen K. went to the store to buy groceries, but there he was attacked by a robber and forced to obey him at gunpoint. So, he forced him to take all the money from the cash register from the cashier, put it in his bag and leave the building. Thus, the robber wanted it not to be him, but K. to be brought to justice. After going out into the street, K. gave him the bag, he disappeared, and the police arrived at the scene. K. was detained, but after clarifying the circumstances, they did not initiate a criminal case against him, since physical and mental violence was applied to him. This meant that K. was innocent of committing robbery. He cannot pass through it either as a performer or as an accomplice.
Citizen V. was walking with her child on the street when a man ran up to her, grabbed the child and put a knife to his throat. V. was frightened; the criminal told her to remain silent and follow his actions, otherwise he would kill her child. He gave her the package and told her to put it in the trash can and then leave. 15 minutes later, after she left, there was an explosion - a terrorist attack was carried out from this very package. The cameras recorded V. putting the package in the trash can, so she was quickly found and arrested. She spoke about the situation, this was confirmed by witnesses and cameras. Therefore, V. was cleared of responsibility for the main crime. But she still received a fine.
Citizen F. worked in a bank at the cash desk. He was carrying out his usual operations when a suspicious young man came in, showed him a machine gun and told him to give him money. F. obeyed, but this was not enough for the kidnapper. He forced F. to open an account for him and transfer several thousand dollars there. After that, he went out and took the stolen goods with him. An investigation was conducted into the fact. F. was found guilty of assisting the criminal, although he could have issued a different account for the criminal than the one he said. F. received penalties.

What are the most common decisions made under Article 40?

In practice, it is difficult to determine whether coercion was surmountable or not, so the court considers the specifics of the case on an individual basis. Half the cases are justified, half are not. It all depends on the specific circumstances of the case.

Psychological and emotional abuse

Let's start with the fact that any violence against a child, be it physical, sexual or psychological, negatively affects the child, ruining his entire future life. Nevertheless, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contains articles that provide for punishment only for the first two types of violence. Unfortunately, no for committing psychological violence. It is almost impossible to punish the perpetrators, since often parents do not suspect that they are harming their child, believing that they are acting with the best intentions. Indirectly, this can include incitement to suicide, however, punishment for this can be imposed either if the child has already partially harmed himself, but was saved, or if the tragedy could not be avoided and it is too late.

It should also be said that very often the concepts of “emotional abuse” and “psychological abuse” are confused, believing that they are one and the same thing. This is not entirely true. Rather, the first is included in the second, since human emotions are an integral part of psychology. Emotional violence directly affects the emotional development of the child, while psychological violence affects the psyche as a whole, inhibiting the development of his abilities. Nevertheless, both types of violence have a heavy impact on the future of the little person, shaping him into a broken, sick person. Therefore, we will collect everything that relates to both emotional and psychological violence in one list.

Photo source:

Physical and mental coercion (Article 40 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)

Physical or mental coercion is identified by the legislator as an independent circumstance that excludes the criminality of the act.

Physical coercion is the influence on a person’s will of external forces that threaten the benefits that are significant to him (life and health) in order to force him to commit a socially dangerous act. Such influence can be carried out through beatings, torture, causing bodily harm, introducing potent and toxic substances into the human body (drugs, alcohol, sleeping pills, poisons), binding and other methods that cause physical pain and (or) harm to the human body. Thus, by causing physical suffering, one person makes another a means of committing a crime, depriving him of the opportunity to act (inaction) at his own discretion and of his own free will. A person who has forced another to commit a crime must bear criminal liability for an attack on the person (torture, beatings, other harm to health), as well as for the crime that the forced person committed. If a person cannot control his actions, he is not responsible for the damage caused in the criminal law aspect.

In the case where physical coercion does not lead to a state in which a person cannot control his actions, criminal liability is excluded only in the presence of a state of extreme necessity and subject to the conditions of its legality. In all other cases, a person is subject to criminal liability due to the presence of volitional behavior and the absence of circumstances excluding the criminality of the act.

Mental coercion is an influence on the human psyche with the aim of suppressing his will. Mental coercion can include threats of physical pressure on a person, his relatives, a threat of murder in the future, a threat to disclose disgraceful information about a person or his relatives, a threat of kidnapping close relatives, a threat of extortion, destruction of property and other actions that may occur in the future. It is possible to directly influence the psyche of a person using psychotropic substances, hypnosis and other methods. With mental coercion, the will of a person is not suppressed to such an extent that he is deprived of the opportunity to realize his actions and direct them. This means that acts committed under the influence of such coercion are criminally punishable (Part 2 of Article 40 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Otherwise, there is no corpus delicti for the reasons stated above. Deception, bribery, persuasion and other similar means of influence are not recognized as mental coercion.

Mental coercion is a special type of extreme necessity.

Domestic violence against women

According to not the most rosy statistics, when it comes to domestic violence, most often a woman appears as a victim. As a rule, a representative of the fairer sex is forced to endure violent actions on the part of her partner, who is trying to control her, intimidate her, and so on. In this case, there are three types of criminal act. Let's go in order.

Psychological abuse

A psychological abuser has certain characteristics. Such a person cannot control himself, he has a changeable mood, and mostly a bad one. He is prone to regular and unreasonable jealousy and inappropriate behavior.

What are the signs of psychological violence against a woman:

regularly criticizes on any occasion;
humiliates and insults;
insults, using sarcastic nicknames, ridicules, shows complete disrespect for his partner;
strives to arrange everything in such a way that it is the woman who is to blame for this or that act;
ignores;
blackmails;
compels to commit an act of an obscene nature.

Unfortunately, psychological violence cannot be classified as a legal violation.

Moral violence

With this type of violence, the dominance of one person over another is directly manifested. Such a person may intimidate his partner, threaten, criticize, etc.

Moral abusers most often behave as follows:

monitor the victim constantly;
prohibit communication with outsiders, thereby limiting contact with the outside world;
sexual abstinence;
manipulation.

Regarding the last point, the victim is influenced by subordinating the victim’s feelings to his own beliefs. This emotional pressure is hidden, while the person is fully aware of what he is doing. Despite this, by certain characteristics this can be detected and stopped:

exalting personal qualities and achievements to us with the same characteristics of a woman;
provokes feelings of guilt for almost any actions on the part of the wife;
creates the preconditions, forcing the woman to praise him;
causes distress through lies and concealment of necessary information.

If there is an open threat or intimidation, as well as if there is evidence (audio or video recordings), you can write a statement to the district police officer. Initial warnings will follow, followed by arrest, depending on the type of threats.

Physical violence

Physical violence against a woman in the family signals a gender orientation due to constant aggression and dominance. in such cases, the wife is regularly subjected to beatings, torture, and beatings. Damage to health can be either mild or moderate or severe. At the same time, oddly enough, a fairly impressive percentage of victims take this attitude for granted. Like, he hits, it means he loves.

In turn, this is a crime, and often a criminal one. Even if minor beatings occur, the spouse can be restrained with the help of the law. It is worth remembering that where harm to health is easy, serious harm is not far away. Physical violence often leads to death.

When coercion to complete a transaction is a criminal offense

Lawyer Antonov A.P.

Article 179 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Forcing to complete a transaction or refusal to complete it” is rarely used in practice. In 2021, only 8 people were convicted under it, in the first half of 2021 - 5 people. First of all, this is due to the difficulties of proving this crime - it is necessary to clearly establish that these actions were not simply threats to kill, cause harm to health, extortion, etc. However, one of the cases considered in the Sverdlovsk region in 2021 is of interest.

One of the apartments in Yekaterinburg had 2 owners, one of whom died, and his share passed to another person (later to the victim). She moved into this apartment, began living in it and creating obstacles for the second owner to use the apartment. To protect her property from possible penalties, she transferred her share to her daughter. The second owner, unable to withstand the illegal actions on the part of the victim, sold his share to another person. After the purchase, he also tried to move in, but the victim systematically interfered with him, did not let him into the apartment, threatened to report the theft of her things if he came in, etc.

Realizing that the purchase of this share was unsuccessful and he would not be able to live in the apartment, the owner decided to sell it and entered into an agreement with a realtor (later the defendant). Having brought two potential buyers to inspect the apartment, he found the victim who, in an obscene form, demanded that the buyers leave, since the apartment was not for sale. The defendant expressed his complaints to the victim, after which he struck her several blows that did not cause harm to her health and pushed her out the door. The victim contacted the police with a statement.

According to investigators, the crime was committed for selfish reasons, with the goal of forcing the victim to sell the apartment. As evidence, a forensic medical examination report on the presence of bodily injuries, an audio recording of the conflict, as well as testimony of witnesses, many of whom were relatives of the victim, were presented. The court was convinced by this evidence, and a guilty verdict was returned.

However, the investigation's version was incorrect. The court did not examine a number of evidence presented by the defense, namely screenshots of correspondence in the WhatsApp messenger, from which it follows that the defendant agreed with the daughter of the victim (the owner of the apartment) to sell her share at a clearly inflated price. Moreover, the audio recording available in the case materials was also not properly examined by the court. Of course, it contains shouting and obscene language between the defendant and the victim, but the threats he expressed were not specific, they did not mention the deal. This conversation only testifies to the personal hostility of the parties to the conflict.

Further, the defense presented extracts from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, from which it follows that the victim herself repeatedly acquired shares in the apartments, after which she acquired adjacent shares and sold the entire apartment. That is, she deliberately prevented the co-owners of the apartments from using their share, forcing them to buy her share at a clearly inflated price and thus making a profit.

Thus, the convict did not force the victim or her daughter to complete the transaction. He inflicted beatings, but they are not criminally punishable in this situation and are qualified under Article 6.1.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. In the appellate instance, the criminal case was dismissed; the cassation instance agreed with these arguments.

Sincerely, lawyer Anatoly Antonov, managing partner of the law firm Antonov and Partners.

Still have questions for your lawyer? Ask them right now here, or call us by phone in Moscow +7 (499) 288-34-32 or in Samara +7 (846) 212-99-71 (24 hours a day), or come to our office for a consultation (by pre-registration)!

Responsibility for a crime

Liability for domestic violence will vary depending on how it was carried out and the consequences it had. If mild physical violence was used, the offender will be held accountable in the form of a fine, forced labor, or correctional labor. A restriction of freedom of up to two years, as well as a prison sentence for the same period, is also likely. The most severe punishment for moderate injuries is imprisonment or restriction of freedom for up to three years, as well as arrest for up to 6 months. If domestic violence has serious consequences, the perpetrator faces imprisonment for up to 8 years.

When choosing a measure of responsibility, the judge will take into account the circumstances of the crime - mitigating and aggravating. Violence against a minor is in itself an aggravating circumstance, therefore it is punishable by a more severe form. The same applies to violence after alcohol and drug abuse.

Threats addressed to you cannot be ignored; for them, the Criminal Code also defines punishment in the form of a fine, arrest for up to six months, and restriction of freedom for up to 2 years. For insulting, the offender will pay a large fine and will be subject to mandatory labor. Sexual violence is punished especially strictly; it entails a sanction of imprisonment for up to 8 years if the person involved is a spouse, and from 8 to 15 years if the target of the violation is a minor.

Domestic violence must be punished, because it can have dire consequences in the form of disability of the victim and even death. You should not feel sorry for a domestic tyrant, his aggressive behavior is a conscious choice, rapists are excellent manipulators, they will behave impeccably, realizing that they have been driven into a corner. People who commit domestic violence have excellent control over their behavior.

A man who once raised his hand against his wife and child will certainly repeat this, feeling his impunity. Don't tolerate this kind of attitude and don't become a hostage to the continuous cycle of bullying. Only you can break the vicious circle of violence by filing a complaint with the police in a timely manner.

Signs and consequences of forced transaction

A crime will be considered committed not at the moment when the result of the actions occurs (for example, the person against whom defamatory information was disseminated concludes a deal), but from the moment the threats are made or their implementation. In this case, coercion to complete a transaction must be committed with direct intent: that is, the criminal pursues a specific goal - by any means to force a citizen/organization to sign an agreement.

The punishment for coercion to complete a transaction may be:

fine up to 300 thousand rubles. or in the amount of the perpetrator’s salary for a period of up to 2 years;
restriction of freedom or forced labor for 2 years;
arrest for 6 months;
imprisonment for 2 years (with or without a fine).

If in forcing the transaction or the crime was committed with the use of violence, then the perpetrators will face imprisonment for up to 10 years.

Types of domestic violence

In general, it is usually divided into three types:

Physical. Most often found on the part of the father of the family - he can cause bodily harm to his wife and children. There are outbreaks of aggression on the part of the mother or adult children.
Sexual violence is any forced action of a sexual nature.
Psychological violence is moral pressure on relatives. It is this third type that will be discussed in more detail in this article.

Psychological (moral) violence leads to serious emotional trauma and mental disorders - depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, panic attacks, stress, and so on. Typically, this type of violence is characteristic of individuals who want to assert themselves at the expense of others; they enjoy the process of humiliating weaker people. Also, such people often suffer from mental illness - for example, personality disorder, schizophrenia, paranoia, and so on.