Skilled types of murder: what is it in 2021?

Murder is the intentional killing of another person, regardless of his age or health.

Accounting for about 15% of all recorded murders, the analyzed types represent the most dangerous type of murder. Therefore, the Constitution of the Russian Federation allows for the possibility of applying the death penalty for these crimes.

The second part of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for paragraphs that describe qualified types of murders. They can be grouped according to the elements of the crime.

Typically, elements of a crime are used as classification criteria. With this approach, the types of murders under consideration can be divided into the following:

Murder, taking into account the characteristics of the object of the crime: two or more persons; a person or his relatives in connection with the performance of official activities by this person or the performance of public duty; a person in a helpless state, known to the perpetrator, and also associated with the abduction or capture of a person; women who are known to the perpetrator to be pregnant.
Murder, taking into account the characteristics of the objects of the crime: committed with particular cruelty; committed in a generally dangerous manner; committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy or by an organized group.
Murder, taking into account the characteristics of the subjective side of the crime: for mercenary reasons or for hire, and even associated with robbery, extortion or banditry; for hooligan reasons; in order to hide another crime or facilitate its commission, as well as involving rape or sexual assault; based on national, racial, religious hatred, enmity or blood feud; for the purpose of using the victim’s organs or tissues.

The proposed scheme is conditional, since it is not difficult to suggest that some types of skilled murders do not completely fit into it.

Each of the murders described in various paragraphs of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation constitutes an independent crime. If one person commits several murders, this requires the classification of these actions as a set of crimes.

In the legislation of the Russian Federation in 2021, simple and qualified murder are distinguished. Simple is a murder without qualifying and privileged characteristics. Such murders include causing the death of a citizen without aggravating or mitigating circumstances.

The concept of skilled murder

What qualified murder is is described in the second part of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. This is murder with aggravating circumstances.

Article 105 lists 26 signs combined into 13 points . The presence of any of them significantly increases the degree of public danger of murder. Some of these signs are clear and do not need explanation.

If there are several aggravating circumstances in the murder committed, then when qualifying the crime there must be references to all paragraphs of part two of Article 105, which provide the corresponding signs.

Punishment is imposed not for each sign separately, but for the second part, since they are not parts and do not have their own sanctions.

Qualified signs of murder can be divided into two groups:

characterizing the object and objective side of the crime;
characterizing the subjective side and personality of the criminal.

Signs characterizing the object of a qualified murder

The characteristics of the object and the objective side of a qualified murder come down to the following:

The specificity of killing two or more persons is the sole intent to take the life of two or more persons. The implementation of such intent in most cases is simultaneous, but a time gap is not excluded. In the first case, the intent to commit murder against one person is necessarily direct. In relation to another, it can be both direct and indirect. In the second case, in relation to both victims, intent can only be direct. It is possible that the murder of one of the victims was not completed due to circumstances beyond the control of the criminal. In this case, attempted murder will be qualified under the first or second part of Article 105 or the third part of Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. And a completed murder under the second part of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. This type of murder should be distinguished from murder committed several times, when there is no single intent to kill two or more persons.
The murder of a person who is in a helpless state is known to the perpetrator , and is also associated with kidnapping or capture. It is characterized by the helplessness of the victim, who, due to her physical or mental condition, cannot defend herself and resist the criminal. Such persons may be children, the elderly, the seriously ill, persons who are intoxicated and are not able to correctly understand what is happening. In this case, the perpetrator realizes the hopeless situation of the victim.
The danger of killing a woman who is pregnant , knowingly for the perpetrator, is that not only the woman, but also the unborn child dies. This takes into account the vulnerability of a woman in the later stages of pregnancy. If the perpetrator knows that the victim is pregnant, the duration of the pregnancy does not matter.
In a murder committed with particular cruelty , such cruelty can be manifested in relation to both the victim herself and other persons. Mocking a corpse cannot be considered particularly cruel. In this case, Article 244 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is applied, which provides for liability for desecration of the bodies of the dead. Murder is recognized as committed in a generally dangerous manner if the perpetrator used a method that, knowingly for the perpetrator, could lead to the death of not only the victim, but also another person.
Murder is recognized as committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy or by an organized group if two or more persons jointly acted with intent to commit murder and participated in the use of violence in the process of deprivation of life.
Repeated murder is the killing of two or more persons when there is no single intent to take their life. In most cases, such crimes are not related to each other and are committed at different times.

Signs that characterize the subjective side of murder:

The murder of a person or his relatives in connection with the performance of official activities by this person.
Murder for mercenary reasons for hire, as well as associated with robbery, extortion or banditry.
Murder for hire is a murder associated with the receipt of any material or other reward. In this case, the person who directly committed the murder is liable under the third paragraph of Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code, and the person who “hired” him is liable as an instigator under Part 4 of Article 33 and the third paragraph of Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code.
Murder for hooligan reasons is associated with clear disrespect for society and generally accepted moral standards.
Murder with the aim of concealing another crime or facilitating its commission, as well as involving rape or acts of a violent nature, is qualified under the second part of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, if the perpetrator had no other motive for the murder.
Murder motivated by national, racial, religious hatred or enmity or blood feud. It is dangerous because the criminal intentions of the perpetrator extend to an indefinite circle of people, each of whom has not done anything bad to him.
Murder for the purpose of using the victim's organs or tissues. In this case, the subject of the crime can be either a medical worker or any other person.

Criminal law. A special part. Short course

1. Murder. Qualified types of murder

Murder
- intentionally causing the death of another person.

1.
The generic object
of murder is the person.

Species object

murders are human life and health.

Direct object

murder is the life of a specific person.

2.
The objective side
is characterized by causing death to another person and consists of three elements:

• act (action or inaction). The act can be either active (for example, shooting, hitting, strangling) or passive behavior (for example, a mother deliberately does not feed her newborn child, wanting to get rid of him);

• criminal consequences. Such consequences in case of murder are the biological death of the victim. This sign of the objective side is mandatory, since this crime is material;

• causal connection between the act and the consequence.

3.
The subjective side
testifies to the mental attitude of the subject to his actions and the resulting death of the victim.

The subjective side is characterized by guilt in the form of intent or negligence. Intent in murder can be either direct or indirect.

Establishing the distinction between direct and indirect intent is of great importance for distinguishing attempted murder from other crimes.

Attempted murder is only possible with direct intent.

4.
The motive
and
purpose
of the crime act as mandatory features, since the qualification of murder depends on their content.

Motives can be different: personal hostility, jealousy, envy, etc.

The purpose of the crime is to take life.

The crime is considered
completed
when the death of the person results from the act of the perpetrator.

6.
Murders are divided into three groups:
• committed without aggravating or mitigating circumstances;

• committed under aggravating circumstances;

• committed under extenuating circumstances.

7.
Qualified murders are:
• two or more persons;

• a person or his relatives in connection with the performance of official activities by this person or the performance of public duty;

• a minor or other person who is known to the perpetrator to be in a helpless state, as well as associated with the kidnapping of a person;

• women who are known to the perpetrator to be pregnant;

• committed with particular cruelty; in a generally dangerous manner; based on blood feud; a group of persons; a group of persons by prior conspiracy or an organized group; for mercenary reasons or for hire, as well as murder associated with robbery, extortion or banditry; for hooligan reasons; in order to hide another crime or facilitate its commission, as well as involving rape or sexual assault; for reasons of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or for reasons of hatred or enmity towards any social group; for the purpose of using the victim’s organs or tissues.

8.
The subject of a murder
is a sane individual who was 14 years old when the murder was committed.

Criminal legal characteristics of murder

Criminal liability arises taking into account the objective and subjective circumstances of the commission of qualified murder.

The purpose of criminal liability, as in other cases, is to restore justice, correct the convicted person, and achieve prevention of a particular and general nature.

The criminal law characteristic of qualified murder, which is provided for in Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, is murder committed in the case of aggravating circumstances.

Committing crimes by any of the methods specified in the second part of Article 105 of the Criminal Code is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 8 to 20 years or life imprisonment. When assigning punishment for such a crime, a differentiated approach and clarification of all the circumstances of the case are necessary.

No one can be found guilty or subject to criminal liability without a court decision in accordance with current legislation.

The most difficult thing in criminal practice is related to murder, in which several points of Part 2 of Article 105 are present.

Thus, qualified murder is a crime that is committed under aggravating circumstances. The object of the crime is human life.

Criminal liability arises if there is a connection between the action and the resulting harm.

The definition of this crime is contained in the second part of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The presence of any of the signs of murder that are indicated there significantly increases the level of public danger of such a crime.

The Criminal Code states that simple murder is punishable by imprisonment for 6–15 years, and an additional suspended sentence of 24 months may be imposed.

If we are talking about a qualified crime, you will have to pay for it for a period of 8 to 20 years and receive a restriction of freedom for a maximum of 2 years. If there is a murder of exceptional gravity, the sentence may be lifelong.

Murder under qualifying circumstances

Note 1
Murder is the intentional causing of death to another person (Part 1 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code). The Criminal Code combines murder and murder under qualifying circumstances in one article.

Murders without qualifying aggravating circumstances or circumstances that reduce danger include:

murder out of jealousy, in a quarrel or in a fight;
murder in connection with the unlawful actions of the victim, out of revenge arising from personal hostility;
killing out of compassion at the request of the victim (or without it), etc.

Qualification of a crime is a legal determination of the correspondence of the actual signs of a socially dangerous act to the elements of a crime provided for by the criminal law. The qualification of a crime is a legal assessment of a socially dangerous act, the result of the evaluative and cognitive activity of the law enforcement officer. The qualification of a crime as a legal assessment must contain a precise indication of the parts, paragraphs, articles of the General and Special Parts of the Criminal Code.

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Crime concept

The definition of “qualified murder” means the commission of an unlawful act, which consists of the intentional deprivation of the life of another person and under aggravating circumstances. This article may even result in life imprisonment.

Part two of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation specifies 26 signs of murder, which are combined into 13 points. It should be noted that if the murder committed has several aggravating circumstances, then when qualifying the crime there must be a reference to each subparagraph.

For murder to be considered qualified, at least one aggravating circumstance is sufficient in the crime. In total, the legislation provides for more than 20 of them.

It is customary to divide signs into subjective and objective. The subjective qualifying signs of murder are as follows:

A crime against a person performing a public duty.
A crime that was committed to cover up another crime.
A crime that was committed for selfish purposes.
A crime that was committed out of hooligan convictions.
Murder against the backdrop of revenge.
A murder that was committed against the backdrop of religious beliefs.
A murder that was committed by a repeat offender.

As for objective signs, the following are distinguished:

A murder that was committed in a manner dangerous to others. For example, the use of poisons, gases and similar substances.
A murder committed with particular cruelty.
The murder of a pregnant woman and the perpetrator knew that she was pregnant.
Taking the life of a person who is or was only in a helpless state at the time of the commission of the crime.
A crime committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.

It should be noted that a combination of several characteristics is not always applied under one article.

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Kinds

According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the following types of murders are considered:

A crime that was committed taking into account the characteristics of the subject - this can include cases with a pregnant woman, a crime in which the injured party is a person with limited liability.
A crime that was committed taking into account the characteristics of the subjective side - this can include murders committed from hooligan motives, or in order to hide another, previously committed offense.
A crime committed taking into account the characteristics of the objective side - the deprivation of a person’s life with particular cruelty, committed by a group of people, and so on.

As for the qualified elements of murder, they are characterized using objective signs.