Human history over the past hundreds of years has been built on the growth of humanism. In just a few hundred years, civilized society has gone from the burning of witches and the crucifixion of political rivals to moratoriums on the death penalty and the rejection of war as a means of resolving conflicts. Historians call the 20th century one of the most cruel. Despite this, it was in the last century that the most important documents were adopted that help modern people differ from their medieval ancestors.
For the first time the term "crime against humanity"
used in relation to the actions of the Ottomans during the Armenian genocide. Then the Entente countries condemned the empire in a joint statement. But they couldn’t do anything - there was no legal basis. It had yet to be created.
Since then, first at the League of Nations, and then at the UN, the concept of “crimes against humanity” has been introduced, supplemented and changed more than once. And exactly 50 years ago an important convention was adopted - on the non-application of the statute of limitations to such crimes. It became clear: the world’s evil cannot escape justice. MIR 24 recalled the most high-profile cases of international tribunals.
Nuremberg trial
Perhaps the most famous international criminals in the world were tried in the mid-40s in Nuremberg. For almost a year, the world community tried to decide what to do with the leaders of Hitler's Germany. No one in world history has ever been responsible for so many deaths.
By that time, they had not yet managed to create a permanent International Criminal Court - they had to hastily adopt regulations and assemble the tribunal almost using their last means. This was an important political step to show the whole world: the old order no longer applies, war criminals will not go unpunished. You cannot unleash an aggressive war, carry out genocide, create “death factories” for people and endlessly torture prisoners of war, and in return only receive removal from power. The Nazis had to answer for their actions with their heads.
“The defendants pursued a policy of persecution, repression and extermination of opponents of the Nazi government. The Nazis threw people into prison without a trial, subjected them to persecution, humiliation, enslavement, torture, and killed them,” the lines from the indictment are frightening in themselves.
Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Jodl, Hess and 14 others were found guilty and received sentences ranging from 10 years in prison to hanging. The first big trial for crimes against humanity turned out to be both the most widespread and the bloodiest. In the east, two dozen more people were convicted in a similar Tokyo trial. It is ironic that, despite the undeniable guilt of the Nazis and their allies, for example, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki also fall under the category of “crimes against humanity”. However, attempts to convene a trial of the perpetrators of these actions have been repeatedly rejected.
The Nuremberg trials were indicative and significant. But, despite the assumptions of optimistic politicians, it did not at all discourage people from committing crimes against humanity.
Crimes against humanity
The term "crimes against humanity" is potentially ambiguous due to the ambiguity of the word "humanity", which can mean humanity (all people collectively) or the value of humanity. The history of this term shows that the latter sense is intended. [3]
Abolition of the slave trade
Several bilateral treaties were negotiated in 1814, precursors to the multilateral Final Act of the Congress of Vienna (1815), which used language condemning the slave trade using moral language. For example, the Treaty of Paris (1814) between Britain and France included the language "principles of natural justice"; and the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain and the United States declared in the Treaty of Ghent (1814) that the slave trade violated “the principles of humanity and justice.” [4]
Multilateral Declaration of the Powers, for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 8 February 1815
(which also formed Section XV of the Act of the Final Congress of Vienna of the same year) included in its first sentence the concepts of "principles of humanity and universal morality" as a justification for ending the "odious in its continuation of trade". [5]
First use
Leopold II, king of the Belgians and de facto
owner of the Congo Free State, who was the first person accused of crimes against humanity.
The term "crime against humanity" was coined by George Washington Williams, [6] an American minister, in a letter he wrote to the US Secretary of State describing atrocities committed by Leopold II of Belgium's administration in the Congo Free State in the 1890s. [7] In treaty law, the term arose from the preamble of the Second Hague Convention of 1899 and was expanded in the preamble of the Fourth Hague Convention of 1907 and their corresponding provisions, which concerned the codification of new rules of international humanitarian law. The preamble of the two Conventions speaks of the “laws of humanity” as expressions of underlying unspoken humanistic values. [8] This term is part of the so-called Martens clause.
On May 24, 1915, the Allied powers, Great Britain, France and Russia, jointly issued a statement openly accusing another government of committing a "crime against humanity" for the first time. An excerpt from this joint statement reads:
In view of these new crimes of the Ottoman Empire against humanity and civilization, the Allied governments publicly declare to the Sublime Porte that they will hold personally responsible for these crimes all members of the Ottoman government, as well as those of their agents who are involved in them. such mass killings. [9]
At the end of the war, the international war crimes commission recommended the creation of a tribunal to try “violations of the laws of humanity.” However, the US representative objected to references to the "law of humanity" as imprecise and underdeveloped at the time, and the concept was not implemented. [10]
However, a 1948 UN report cited the use of the term “crimes against humanity” in relation to the Armenian massacres as a precedent for the Nuremberg and Tokyo Charters. On 15 May 1948, the Economic and Social Council presented a 384-page report prepared by the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC)[11], established in London (October 1943) to collect and collate information on war crimes and the war. criminals. [12]: 129 The report was in accordance with the UN Secretary-General's request to organize "the collection and publication of human rights information arising from the trials of war criminals, quislings and traitors, and in particular from the Nuremberg Institute." and the Tokyo Trials." The report was prepared by members of the commission's legal department. The report is highly relevant to the Armenian Genocide, not only because it uses the events of 1915 as a historical example, but also as a precedent for Articles 6(c) and 5(c) of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Charters, and thereby as a precursor the recently adopted UN Genocide Convention, which distinguishes between war crimes and crimes against humanity. Citing information collected during the First World War and put forward by the 1919 Accountability Commission, the report entitled "Human Rights Information Emerging from the Trials of War Criminals" used the Armenian case as a prime example of crimes committed by a state against its own . citizens. The report also noted that although the Paris peace treaties with Germany, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria did not contain any reference to the "laws of humanity", the charges were instead based on violations of the "laws and customs of war", the Treaty of Sèvres. This is what they did with Turkey. In addition to Articles 226–228 relating to the customs of war (corresponding to Articles 228–230 of the Treaty of Versailles), the Treaty of Sèvres also contained an additional Article 230, apparently in compliance with the Allied ultimatum of 24 May 1915 regarding "crimes against humanity and civilization" committed. [12]
Nuremberg trial
Nuremberg trials. The defendants are in the dock. The prosecution's main target was Hermann Göring (left on the front row of benches), who was considered the most important surviving official of the Third Reich after Hitler's death.
After World War II, the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal established the laws and procedures under which the Nuremberg trials were to be conducted. The drafters of this document were faced with the problem of how to respond to the Holocaust and the grave crimes committed by the Nazi regime. The traditional understanding of war crimes does not include crimes committed by the government against its own citizens. Article 6 of the Charter was therefore drafted to include not only traditional war crimes and crimes against peace, but also crimes against humanity
, defined as
Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war, or persecution on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where it was committed. [13] [14]
According to this definition, crimes against humanity can be punished only to the extent that they can be in some way connected with war crimes or crimes against peace. [15] Jurisdictional restrictions were explained by the chief US representative at the London Conference, Robert H. Jackson, who pointed out that "from time immemorial it has been a general rule that the internal affairs of another government are generally not our business." . Thus, “we are justified in interfering or attempting to inflict retribution on individuals or states only because the concentration camps and deportations were carried out in furtherance of a general plan or enterprise for causing an unjust war.” [15] The decision of the First Nuremberg Trials established that the "policy of persecution, repression and murder of civilians" and the persecution of Jews in Germany before the outbreak of war in 1939 were not crimes against humanity because they were "heinous and terrible, as many of these crimes were, but it has not been satisfactorily proven that they were committed in execution or in connection with “war crimes or crimes against peace.” [16] The subsequent Nuremberg trials were carried out under Control Council Law No. 10, which included a revised definition of crimes against humanity, with a broader scope. [17]
Tokyo court
Defendants at the Tokyo International Tribunal. General Hideki Tojo was one of the main defendants and is in the middle row.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial, was convened to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of crimes: "Class A" (crimes against peace), "Class B" (war crimes), and "Class C" (crimes against humanity) committed during World War II.
The legal basis for the trial was established by the Charter of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (CIMTFE), which was proclaimed on 19 January 1946. The Tribunal convened on 3 May 1946 and was adjourned on 12 November 1948.
In the Tokyo Trial, crimes against humanity (Class C) were not applied to any of the suspects. [18] [ additional references
] The prosecution related to the Nanjing Massacre was classified as a violation of the laws of war.
[19] [ additional references
]
A panel of eleven judges presided over the IMTFE, one each from the victorious Allied Powers (United States, Republic of China, Soviet Union, Great Britain, Netherlands, Provisional Government of the French Republic, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, British India, and the Philippines).
Pol Pot regime
As usually happens, they realized that something terrible was happening in the east only three decades later. The crimes of the so-called communist Khmer Rouge occurred in the 70s of the twentieth century, and the court was convened by international bodies only in 2003. Despite the millions killed in Cambodia and neighboring Vietnam.
Between 1975 and 1979, Pol Pot's left-wing extremist movement engaged in repression, deportations, mass extermination and other crimes against humanity. The communists did not accept anything Western and hated the intelligentsia, so you could end up in the execution pit even for wearing glasses or reading a book with Latin letters. Also, without further ado, they killed all religious people, Vietnamese, Chams and, of course, those who did not agree with the actions of the dictator’s government.
Despite numerous documented cases of torture and murder, the Western left-wing intelligentsia for a long time did not recognize that genocide was taking place in Cambodia. Already in the late 70s, the Khmer Rouge was overthrown, and Pol Pot, without waiting for trial for his crimes, died in the 90s. Thus, by the beginning of the 21st century, there were five defendants left in the case of Democratic Kampuchea. Three survived to be sentenced.
Kang Kek Yeu received 35 years, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan received life sentences. However, given his age, Kang Kek Yeu is also unlikely to live to see his release. It is surprising that out of the total number of people who participated in the genocide, only five “reached” trial. This is largely due to the fact that Cambodia has refused to fully refer the case of crimes against humanity to international authorities. The hearings themselves took place directly in Cambodia, and most of the judges represent a country that suffered from the actions of the communists.
Former Yugoslavia
The war, and then the trial, which the whole world watched. While not every average person can show Cambodia on a map, everyone knows about Yugoslavia. Despite the fact that the court was first convened back in 1993, it was dissolved quite recently - in 2017. Although not all the criminals have yet been arrested - and if they are found, they will be convicted to the fullest extent of the law.
At the end of the 80s of the last century, obvious nationalist sentiments developed in most socialist countries. Yugoslavia was no exception. For many decades, the state has tried to combine seemingly incompatible peoples. In the 1990s, the country began to come apart at the seams.
Slovenians, Croats, Bosnians and Macedonians wanted independence. The Serbs wanted to maintain the state within its previous borders - or at least retain territories with a predominantly Serb population. Conflict with such premises could hardly be avoided.
Another thing is that instead of a war between state armies and their interests, the Balkans received a bloody guerrilla war with thousands of recorded cases of crimes against humanity. Extermination of civilians on religious and national grounds, torture, excessive cruelty - Yugoslav violence could not be left unanswered. That is why the world community almost unanimously decided to convene a tribunal - the first such large one since the trial of the Nazis and Japanese after World War II.
As a result, 142 people went through trial. The majority are Serbs and Croats. The most famous of the prisoners are General Ratko Mladic (life sentence) and the first President of the Republika Srpska Radovan Karadzic (40 years imprisonment). Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic died before the verdict was announced, although many were considered the main culprit of what happened.
Genocide in Rwanda
Massive clashes between the Hutu and Tutsi peoples, in which several hundred thousand people were killed, went virtually unnoticed due to the Yugoslav conflict. For a long time, no one was interested in what was happening in a remote African country. Before it's too late.
Back in 1990, civil war began in Rwanda. Opposing each other was the Hutu government and the Tutsi-supported Rwandan Patriotic Front. Despite the fact that attempts to resolve the conflict were quite successful - even a temporary truce was achieved - the people of Rwanda began to become very polarized. Hutus did not greet Tutsis, children were sent to different schools, all cities in the state were divided into national ghettos. The situation was also fueled by the media: the notorious “Free Radio and Television of a Thousand Hills” for several years openly and covertly called for the extermination of the Tutsis. “You missed some enemies, the graves are not full yet!” - the DJs were broadcasting.
It all started on April 6, 1994, when a plane carrying the presidents of Rouen and Burundi was shot down on approach to Kigali. The Tutsis were blamed for everything. Over the next few months, several thousand people a day were killed in Rwanda. The government openly armed Hutus and encouraged them to kill their neighbors. The world community decided to intervene only in July. It was only in the fall that the bloodshed was stopped.
93 people were tried on charges of crimes against humanity at the International Tribunal, which was convened only three years later. Only 12 of them were acquitted. First of all, the former Prime Minister of Rwanda, Jean Kambande, and the head of the “youth wing” of the then ruling party, George Rutaganda, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Several generals and presenters of the same “Radio of a Thousand Hills” were also convicted for participation in the genocide. These are one of the few verdicts in history by international tribunals for journalistic activities. But it is unlikely that many will object to such a decision.
The last case in Rwanda was resolved at the end of 2012. One of the Hutu government ministers received a 35-year sentence. However, several people accused of genocide are still wanted. Thanks to the Convention adopted 50 years ago, their crimes have no statute of limitations.
Crimes against the person: from Ancient Rus' to the Russian Federation
In the modern conditions of our developing world, the protection of human rights is increasingly becoming one of the priorities of social progress, the basis of which is universal human interest, the priority of universal human values. In our article we will analyze the evolution of crimes against the person and punishments for these criminal acts. In the course of studying the issue, the author proposed stages of development of the legal category - crimes against the person, analyzed legal acts of various historical periods, starting with Ancient Rus', and formulated the main conclusions on the crimes against persons presented in them. In the course of this, the author comes to the conclusion that the system of criminal acts against people becomes more complicated with each subsequent stage, and the system of punishments until the 19th century became more severe, but by the 21st century this system acquires the features of humanism.
Key words: crimes against the person, punishment, death penalty.
The problems of protecting human rights are more relevant than ever both in Russia and in the world. Without this, it is impossible to lay the moral and political foundation of our modern state. Society has no future if it does not respect individual rights and freedoms. Crimes against the person are the most serious types of crimes, since they are aimed exclusively at causing harm to the life and health of a person, at limiting his constitutional rights and freedoms, at his honor and freedom, dignity and inviolability.
What was meant by a crime against a person? What new features and characteristics did they acquire over time? How was the list of criminal acts against people replenished depending on the historical period of Russia? We find answers to all these questions in our article. So, the purpose of this article is a historical and legal study of the formation of such a legal category as crimes against the person, as well as factors influencing the development of the system of punishment for crimes.
In order to trace what types of crimes against individuals and punishment for them appeared in a certain period of development of Russia, we will propose a stage-by-stage approach based on the norms of certain legal sources. In our article, the main stages are related to the following legal acts: Russian Pravda, Pskov Judicial Charter, Code of Laws, Sobornoe Code, Military Article, Code of Criminal and Correctional Punishments, criminal codes of the RSFSR and the Russian Federation.
The first stage (1016–1397) begins in Ancient Rus'; it can be associated with the publication of Russian Pravda, the first Russian collection of laws created by Yaroslav the Wise. The norms contained in the Russian Truth were seriously influenced by the norms of the treaties between Rus' and Byzantium (911, 944 and 971). The texts of the treaties [1] contain norms of Byzantine and Russian law related to international trade, procedural and criminal law. In these legal acts one can distinguish such crimes against the person as murder and bodily harm (clauses 4, 5 of the Treaty of 911; clauses 13,14 of the Treaty of 944). The penalty for killing a person was the death penalty or the transfer of the murderer's property to the family of the murdered person; For beatings and bodily injuries, a fine of “5 liters of silver according to Russian custom” is imposed. At the same time, the agreements provided for the implementation of the right of blood feud.
According to Russian Pravda [2], the following types of crimes against the person are distinguished: against life (murder and mutilation resulting in death), against health (minor injury, beatings and blows), against honor (hitting with a horn, bowl and other objects, pulling out beards and mustaches) ), against freedom (selling a free person, imprisonment on false charges). Crimes against life are called “murder” (Article 3 of the Long Truth) and “robbery” (Article 20 of the Short Truth and Article 7 of the Long Truth), but the first term refers to murder in general, and the second - premeditated murder. For murder, the penalty was a fine (single vira, double vira, half vira, sale, wild vira), the size of which depended on the social status of the murdered person. The short version of Russian Pravda in Article 1 allows for blood feud. Battering, insults, and bodily harm were punishable by monetary fines, the size of the fine depended on what was used to strike the blow. The most severe punishment was “flood and plunder” (Article 7 of the Extensive Truth).
Thus, analyzing the text of Russian Pravda, we can conclude that this legal monument for the first time provides for the individual as an object of criminal legal protection. For Ancient Rus', this legal act most fully revealed all spheres of social life. Most likely, this is why Russian Truth served as a source for further legal acts.
We associate the second stage (1397–1497) with the writing of the Pskov Judgment Charter [3]. Crimes against the person according to the Pskov Judicial Charter included murder (“golovshchina”), beatings and insults by action. The most serious crimes were considered to be fratricide and the murder of parents. In case of murder, a fine of 1 ruble was collected from the criminal in favor of the prince and a special reward to the family of the murdered man. Battering (Article 27) or beard pulling (Article 11) was qualified as insult by action. Battering in a public place was punishable by a fine in favor of the prince, and a fine of 2 rubles was provided for pulling out a beard. Sale (a fine in favor of the prince) was levied for murder (Article 96), beating (Article 120), insult in the presence of court (Article 111) or striking a court gatekeeper (Article 58). The death penalty as a form of punishment was first mentioned in the Dvina Judicial Charter. It was applied to murderers by cutting off the head.
Summing up the conclusion at this stage, we can say that the Pskov Judicial Charter does not contain rules regulating mutilation, which means that Russian Truth is still in effect on the territory of feudal Russia. But it can be noted that new types have been included in the system of crimes against the person: parricide and fratricide. The punishment system has also undergone changes: the concepts of “vira” and “wild vira” are missing, but a concept has appeared to replace them - “sale”.
The third stage (1497–1649) is associated with the appearance of such legal acts as Codes of Law. The first of them was adopted by Ivan III in 1497 due to the need to issue a single legal act of the Russian state and eliminate local legislative acts of various principalities, as well as due to the strengthening of the power of the Grand Duke of Moscow. In 1550, Ivan the Terrible adopted another Code of Law, which supplemented and streamlined the norms of the Code of Law of 1497. The Code of Laws [4] provided for the following crimes against the person: murder (murder), snitching, i.e. malicious slander, and crimes against honor. The Code of Law of 1497 does not mention such acts as mutilation, wounds, beatings - of course, they took place in reality, but probably continued to be regulated by Russian Pravda. The most serious crime against a person was murder. The judge distinguishes between simple and qualified murder. A qualified murder entailing the death penalty was the murder by a peasant of his owner (Article 9). The introduction of the special concept of “state murderer” and the establishment of capital punishment for committing this crime was determined by the increasing number of cases of peasants speaking out against their masters and the need to protect the lives of representatives of the ruling class. Simple murder entailed the obligation for the culprit to pay the sale and suffer punishment, imposed at the discretion of the judge. However, if the killer was a “led dashing person” (recidivist), then he was also punished by death. The Code of Law introduces such a new type of crime as sneaking, which was previously not known to either the Russian Pravda or the Pskov Judicial Charter. Snitching meant malicious slander, the purpose of which was to accuse an innocent person of a crime in order to take advantage of his property. This type of crime was punishable by death. Honor crimes included insult by action and insult by word. Disputes in cases of this type were resolved by “field” (judicial combat).
At this stage, we can draw an intermediate conclusion based on the stages we have studied. The process of development of the system of crimes, and in particular, crimes against the individual, in our opinion, was due to the development of the state and government bodies, as well as the development of feudal relations, due to which criminal repression for crimes intensified, since the ruling class needed to protect feudal property and their personality, which formed the basis of the well-being of society at that time. The legal category of crimes against the person is beginning to include more and more types of criminal acts, therefore, more attention is being paid to this area by the state.
The fourth stage (1649–1715) follows dramatic changes in the life of Russian society in the 16th-17th centuries: the development of the class structure, the development of the Russian state itself, which involves the coming to power of a new dynasty, public riots, the expansion of borders, led to the development legal environment and the adoption of a new set of laws - the Council Code, adopted by Alexei Mikhailovich in 1649. This legal act [5] clearly regulated the elements of crimes against the person. This is murder, bodily harm, beatings and insults to honor (in the form of insult or slander, spreading defamatory rumors). The Code presents in more detail the system of characteristics qualifying murder. It included the murder of her husband by her wife (as punishment, the woman was buried alive), the murder of parents, sisters and illegitimate children (punishable by death), and murder by the master's servant. In these crimes, accomplices were held accountable on an equal basis with the direct perpetrators. The Code included poisoning as a qualified type of murder. The law required careful determination of whether the murder was committed intentionally or through negligence. In the first case, the death penalty was usually followed, in the second - a less severe punishment. In case of accidental murder there was no liability. Causing bodily harm (self-mutilation, mutilation) is also reflected in the law. The Code formulated a special composition, calling them “tormenting desecration.” Cutting off a nose, ear, leg, arm, or gouging out an eye was punishable by similar mutilation (the “talion” principle) and a fine. For insult or false accusation, the punishment was a fine.
Even new laws preserved the old order: the value of an individual was determined by class status, and this also led to the final consolidation of serfdom. The system of crimes against the person has also developed: legislation distinguishes several types of murders (intentional and careless), and the qualified signs of murder are expanding. The punishment system continued to become tougher and retained primitive orders, for example the principle of “talion”.
Fifth stage (1715–1845). After about half a century, we can identify the next stage associated with the new systematization of criminal law norms, which included the Military Article. In this legal act [6], among crimes against the person one can distinguish: crimes against life, against bodily integrity, against honor. Crimes against life included murders, which were divided into intentional (punishable by cutting off the head), accidental (no punishment) and careless (various types of punishment: imprisonment, fine, spitting). For the first time, crimes such as suicide (art. 164) and duel (art. 139) began to be punished due to the fact that the idea of the individual belonging to the state, and therefore to the tsar, was formulated. Such cases were punishable by death by hanging. The legislation included the most serious types of murder: murder for hire (art. 161), poisoning (art. 162), murder of a father, mother, baby, officer (art. 163). For such a murder, the most severe punishment was imposed - being beaten on the wheel. Mutilation was punishable by cutting off a hand. Slander (oral or written) was punishable by imprisonment or exile to hard labor.
Considering this legislative act, we can say that it provides a clearer differentiation of murders committed intentionally and through negligence, and it provides for types of murders: simple and qualified. The punishment system, in our opinion, in the Military Articles is the most cruel in the legal history of Russia, since the death penalty was provided for in 122 cases. [7] The death penalty was also divided into qualified and simple: for poisoning a person, the punishment was impaled on the wheel, and for murder, the head was cut off. The reason for this tightening of punishments can be identified as the need to maintain discipline in military formations, since the Military Article was primarily aimed at military personnel.
We attribute the sixth stage (1845–1922) to the 19th century and to the adoption of the “Code on Criminal and Correctional Punishments.” The Code contains a section “On crimes against the life, health, freedom and honor of private individuals,” containing crimes against the individual and punishments for them [8]. Murder was considered the most serious type of crime against a person. According to the Code of 1845, murders were divided into qualified, intentional, and careless. Premeditated murder was considered qualified (murder for the second time, murder of relatives, murder of a boss or master, murder of a pregnant woman). For these types of crimes, deprivation of all rights of the estate and exile to indefinite hard labor were provided. Anyone who committed murder with intent, but without aggravating circumstances, was deprived of all rights of fortune and sent to hard labor for 12–15 years. For careless murder, the perpetrator was punished by imprisonment or deprivation of all rights of the estate. Suicide was considered a criminal offense. Suicides were deprived of Christian burial and the right to the validity of their spiritual wills. The next type of crimes against the person was identified by the Code as crimes against health (mutilations, wounds, beatings, health disorders and mental disorders). These types of crimes were punished in most cases by deprivation of all rights of the estate. Also, the same section of the Code provides for penalties for insult to honor. It provided for crimes against the honor and chastity of women. We are talking about molestation (punished by deprivation of all rights) and rape (deprivation of all rights, hard labor, branding). This chapter also provided for such elements as direct personal insult. This composition had the following types: personal insult, slander, defamation, revelation of a secret, threat, arbitrariness (punishable by either arrest or prison).
The Code of Criminal and Correctional Punishments of 1845 had significant differences and improvements compared to the previous criminal legislation of Russia. Compared to the Military Code, the Criminal Code appears to be more progressive and meets the needs of society. Now the distinction between a misdemeanor and a crime was made not by the severity of the punishment, but by the object of the attack. As in previous legal acts, the main object is the person. The increasing complexity of the punishment system, the lack of certainty of sanctions, the possibility of replacing one punishment with another is dictated by the socio-economic changes taking place in society. The country is also undergoing a large-scale change in the police investigation system and the state apparatus. One of the most important reasons for tightening punishments was that Nicholas I did not want a repetition of the events of December 1825.
The next seventh stage we identified (1922–1996) is associated with changes in the social and state structure of the 20th century. Crimes against the person in the legislation of this period were prescribed in the Criminal Codes of the RSFSR. We will look at the code, which presented in more detail the types of crimes against the person and punishment for them - this is the Criminal Code of the RSFSR of 1960. The code [9] has a separate third chapter, “Crimes against life, health, freedom and dignity of the individual,” which contains and reveals 29 articles. Crimes against life included such types as murder, intentional incitement to suicide, inducement and assistance to suicide. Murder was divided into 3 categories: intentional, when the limits of self-defense were exceeded, and careless. Health crimes included bodily harm, blows and beatings, and exposure to venereal disease. The Criminal Code of the RSFSR identified sexual crimes (sexual intercourse with persons under puberty, corruption of minors, rape, forcing women to engage in sexual intercourse, sodomy, forced prostitution and brothel-keeping) and crimes against the personal freedom of citizens (kidnapping or substitution child, unlawful imprisonment, unlawful placement in a mental hospital, hostage taking). Types of crimes such as slander and insult are crimes against honor. The main types of punishment were imprisonment, correctional labor, fines, and public censure. The most severe punishment - the death penalty - was punishable for premeditated murder with aggravating circumstances and rape committed by a particularly dangerous repeat offender or entailing particularly grave consequences, as well as rape of a minor.
Examining this legal act, we can say that the Criminal Code of the RSFSR of 1960 more fully reveals such a legal category as crimes against the person, since it takes into account the shortcomings of the criminal codes of 1922 and 1926. In Chapter 3, crimes against the person are already divided into 5 categories according to the object of the criminal act. The penal system shows a tendency toward humanism: the scope of application of correctional and educational measures is expanding, the maximum term of imprisonment has been greatly reduced, and the range of crimes for which the death penalty is a punishment has been reduced.
And the final eighth stage (1996 - present) is marked by the development of the legal concept of “crimes against the person” in modern Russia. We associate this stage with the adoption of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In the modern Criminal Code of the Russian Federation [10], crimes against the person are described in 5 chapters. These are criminal acts that encroach on: life and health; freedom, honor and dignity of the individual; sexual integrity and sexual freedom of the individual; constitutional rights and freedoms of man and citizen; family and minors. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for the following types of crimes against life: 1) murder (intentional (simple), by the mother of a newborn child, when the limits of necessary defense are exceeded, in a state of passion); 2) causing death by negligence; 3) incitement to suicide. In all of these crimes, the object is human life. The legislator includes the following as crimes against health: intentional infliction of harm to health (Articles 111–115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), beatings, torture, threats to kill, infection with a venereal disease, etc. Crimes against freedom, honor and dignity of the individual are intentional acts , encroaching on such a natural human right as his personal freedom, as well as his honor and dignity. Depending on the direct object of the unlawful act against a person, they can be classified into two groups: 1) attacks on the physical freedom of a person - kidnapping (Article 126 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), unlawful deprivation of liberty (Article 127 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), human trafficking (Article 127.1 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), use of slave labor (Article 127.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), illegal hospitalization in a medical organization providing psychiatric care in inpatient conditions (Article 128 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation); 2) attacks on the honor and dignity of an individual - slander (Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Currently, the criminal legislation of the Russian Federation distinguishes the following types of sexual crimes: rape (Article 131 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), violent acts of a sexual nature (Article 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), compulsion to acts of a sexual nature (Article 133 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), sexual intercourse and others acts of a sexual nature with a person under sixteen years of age (Article 134 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), indecent acts (Article 135 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Crimes against the constitutional rights and freedoms of man and citizen are enshrined in Chapter. 19 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It includes 17 articles. Most crimes relate to crimes of minor and medium gravity. Chapter 20 reveals the following types of crime: against minors (involving a minor in committing a crime, involving a minor in committing antisocial acts, retail sale of alcoholic beverages to minors, failure to fulfill obligations to raise a minor) and against the family (substitution of a child, illegal adoption, disclosure of secrets adoption, non-payment of funds for the maintenance of children or disabled parents). For these types of crimes, the following types of punishment are provided: restriction of freedom, imprisonment, criminal fine, arrest, correctional labor. Modern legislation in the criminal sphere is being improved every year, which is why penalties for crimes against the person are becoming more severe. For example, the terms of imprisonment and forced labor for various types of crimes and the amount of criminal fines are increasing.
To sum up the reasoning, we can say that the legislative acts that were in force on the territory of our country at different times are not work on mistakes, but the results of a historical process, which are monuments of law. They reflect the main aspects of legal relations of the era and lay the foundation for subsequent, more rational and modern legal acts. With the development of law and the adoption of ever new legal acts, the individual becomes a priority for protection from various attacks. In the system of punishment for these types of crimes by the 21st century, trends of justice and humanism can be traced: a moratorium on the death penalty has been introduced, although this type of punishment is mentioned in the modern Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, various conditions are created for the detention of those sentenced to imprisonment. But this does not exclude the fact that if we consider two completely different periods in the history and development of Russian law: for example, modernity and the Peter the Great era, where any crime was punishable by death, the number of crimes against the person is growing.
Thus, when studying the stages we have proposed, we come to the conclusion that the emergence of new types of crimes is associated with the development of society, the complication of social relations, and with a different understanding by the state of public danger. The system of crimes against the person in the legal history of the Fatherland is expanding with each period, since the state first of all puts the protection of the person himself, his life and health. The development of this system took place evolutionarily, the changes were gradual and radical. The elements of crimes directed against the individual changed from stage to stage, without sharp jumps. Today we have a detailed regulatory structure of these criminal acts, containing such legal categories as circumstances aggravating and mitigating responsibility for committing the above-mentioned crimes; a number of new elements have appeared. But, for the most part, essentially, the actions have remained virtually unchanged. Studying these changes will help you see the trends in this category. Murder remains prevalent in this category of crime. Along with this, harm to health of varying degrees of severity, beatings, torture, etc. are criminalized. Thus, in modern legislation one can highlight an increasing priority of universal human values, a focus on maximizing personal safety, protecting life, health, honor and dignity, rights and freedoms of citizens, their inviolability.
Even though the share of crimes against individuals in the total mass of crime is relatively small and does not exceed 5%, behind each of the percentages there are real human lives hidden, therefore, it is obvious that the problem of violent crime is one of the most serious in the world. A person, just as he did not understand, will not understand that he has no right to violate the rights and freedoms of another person; neither society, nor even the state has this right. And in conclusion, I would like to quote Titus Levi: “No crime can have a legal basis.”
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