Responsibility for hooliganism: unresolved issues

New edition of Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

1. Hooliganism, that is, a gross violation of public order, expressing clear disrespect for society, committed:

a) with the use of violence against citizens or the threat of its use;

b) for reasons of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or for reasons of hatred or enmity towards any social group;

c) on railway, sea, inland water or air transport, as well as on any other public transport, -

shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand rubles, or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of two to three years, or by compulsory labor for a term of up to four hundred eighty hours, or by corrective labor for a term of one to two years, or forced labor for a term of up to five years, or imprisonment for the same period.

2. The same act committed with the use of weapons or objects used as weapons, or by a group of persons, a group of persons by prior conspiracy or an organized group, or associated with resistance to a government official or other person performing duties to protect public order or suppressing a violation of public order order -

shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of five hundred thousand to one million rubles, or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of three to four years, or by forced labor for a term of up to five years, or by imprisonment for a term of up to seven years.

3. Acts provided for in parts one or two of this article, committed with the use of explosives or explosive devices, -

shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of five to eight years.

What is telephone hooliganism?

In Russia, the term hooliganism means a violation of social norms, orders and foundations, expressed in rude form.

Hooliganism committed over the phone can be expressed in the following:

Prank calls are made to make fun of the victim. They are actively trying to draw a person into a dialogue, imitating the voices of acquaintances. Sometimes, to get a reaction, pranksters just need to remain silent or breathe into the phone.
Threats and insults - a troublemaker is driven by the desire to humiliate his interlocutor, mock him, get retaliatory insults, and scare him. Communication is characterized by an abundance of obscene language.
Reports of incidents - an organization or special service receives a message about a crime, an act of terrorism, arson, etc. The consequence of a denunciation is the suspension of the activities of institutions, the departure of special teams to a non-existent incident, the waste of funds for evacuation.

Such calls violate the right of citizens to rest and violate the honor and dignity of the victim. In some cases, the actions of “jokers” performed using telephone devices can threaten the life or health of the subscriber.

An object

It is order in society. It can be considered as a complex, a system of interactions between people, the rules of their behavior, social life, established in regulations, customs, morals, and traditions. Public order is the established social state of the population, ensuring an environment of calm, inviolability and security of the individual, integrity of property, stable functioning of various institutions (state and social). An additional object of encroachment may be the health, dignity, and honor of persons, including those suppressing violations.

What is hooliganism

In everyday life, the word “hooligan” carries harmless information. Someone will shout a little or break a window or swear, that is, they will violate generally accepted norms of behavior or “behave.” Often society forgives minor pranks and treats them leniently: it doesn’t happen to anyone.

Where to find the line when actions become criminal offenses. The legislation of the Russian Federation clearly formulates all the nuances of violations of public order that are unacceptable by citizens.

In 1905, the term “hooligans” was used for the first time in a printed publication in Russia. This is the nickname given to the loafers who wandered on the street and mocked the townspeople for the sake of laughter. During the period of revolutionary ferment, young people challenged public opinion.

This is how a semi-criminal subculture among young people was formed. They were distinguished from the crowd by their special form of clothing, swagger in behavior and more:

wandering around the streets, using foul language, disrespecting the authorities and the clergy;
pestering townspeople, beatings, fights, invading private territory demanding money to buy alcoholic beverages;
arson, destruction of personal property of citizens;
appearing naked in a public place;
vandalism.

The evil that was gaining momentum in Tsarist Russia fully unfolded during the NEP (New Economic Policy in the 1920s). Hooligan circles were created that terrorized the local population. These are already criminal groups that robbed, raped, and killed.

In 1922, the Soviet government formulated a criminal article on hooliganism, which provided for punishment in the form of correctional labor or one year in prison. At the same time, hooliganism, as a type of offense, was separated from banditry.

In 1935, the punishment for hooliganism was toughened: 1 year was replaced by 5 years of imprisonment.

Hooligan motives are a qualifying feature

According to statistics, the most common crimes are those committed for hooligan reasons that encroach on the life and health of specific people. In the articles of the Criminal Code prohibiting such acts, hooligan motives are a noticeably aggravating factor for the perpetrator. These are the following intentional acts:

Murder – clause “i” of Part 2 of Art. 105. Taking the life of another person for hooligan reasons is a particularly serious act, which is punished very severely. The maximum penalty for such an act is imprisonment from 8 to 20 years, or life.
Infliction of grievous bodily harm – paragraph “e” of Part 2 of Art. 111. The maximum penalty is up to 10 years in prison.
Causing moderate harm to health – clause “e” of Part 2 of Art. 112 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The most severe punishment is up to 5 years in prison.
Causing minor harm to health – paragraph “a” of Part 2 of Art. 115. The maximum penalty is imprisonment for up to 2 years.

In each case of bodily injury to the victim, the degree of harm caused to health is examined by forensic experts as part of a forensic examination.

Vera Viktorovna Dolganina

Practicing lawyer with more than 10 years of experience.

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Law enforcers (preliminary investigation bodies and the court), in order to conclude the presence of hooligan motives when using violence during an quarrel, fight, conflict, are ordered to find out which of the participants was their initiator (criminal or victim), whether the conflict was a provocation with a specific purpose - for using it as a reason to commit a crime.

In situations where the conflict was caused by the victim, as well as when it was caused by the unlawful behavior of the victim, hooligan motives of the perpetrator in relation to such a victim are excluded.

Another crime for which hooligan motives are a qualifying feature is encroaching on the property of citizens.

This is the intentional destruction or damage of someone else's property, committed out of hooligan motives. They are being prosecuted under Part 2 of Art. 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The most severe punishment for such an act is imprisonment for up to 5 years.

The difference between hooliganism and vandalism

How to legally correctly distinguish between hooliganism and vandalism follows from paragraph 15 of the said resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court. According to the document, the key difference between hooliganism and vandalism is that the consequences of the latter are damage to property through desecration of buildings and other structures or damage to property in public places (including transport).

In cases where the perpetrators, according to the conclusions of law enforcement officers, committed acts containing signs of both vandalism (Article 214 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and hooliganism, the act must be qualified under the combination of both articles of the Russian Criminal Code.

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External manifestation of the offense and its object, Art. 20.1 Code of Administrative Offenses

In petty hooliganism, the object is order in society. What does it mean? The objective side is considered to be the commission by a person of an unlawful act that violates the peace of citizens and public order. For example, obscene language in a public place. Petty hooliganism can disrupt order in society in any area of life. This could be an institution, street, store, factory, etc. Simply put, the commission of an offense most often occurs in the presence of people.

To have it, it is not enough to commit it publicly. For example, petty hooliganism is also an obscene inscription on a fence made in the absence of people.

Reasons for committing a crime against public order

The offense has reasons:

disagreement with the political views of the victims;
different ideology;
racial rejection of the rights of people of different skin color;
hatred of people of other religions;
hostility towards representatives of different nationalities;
belonging to a hostile group.

At the same time, the following signs are not characteristic of hooliganism:

preliminary acquaintance with the injured party;
crime planning;
personal material interest.

If the offense contains at least one similar sign, then classifying the act as hooliganism is a wrong conclusion.

Where to apply

Despite the fact that it is difficult to prove such an offense, the victim of calls can try to hold the offender accountable by writing a statement against the calling attacker.

A complaint against an annoying interlocutor should be submitted to the police department in your area of residence. The prankster's antics must be described in detail. It is advisable to provide recordings of conversations.

The police must conduct an investigation into the complaint of the victim of annoying calls. As soon as all the facts stated by the applicant are double-checked, police officers must provide the victim with an answer on the merits of the questions raised in the application, and then either initiate a case or refuse to initiate it. The answer is given in writing.

If it is not possible to obtain action from the police, the victim is left with:

Visit the prosecutor's office with a complaint about the inaction of employees (for example, refusal to accept an appeal, refusal to initiate a case, or incomplete verification activities).
Appeal the inaction of the police to higher authorities (superior body or official), as well as to the district court.

After considering the complaint, the police may be required to eliminate violations of the Code of Criminal Procedure, cancel the illegal refusal, acknowledge the incompleteness of the inspection and give instructions on carrying out specific verification activities.

Contents of the statement

The application is drawn up in a standard form and has the following parts:

Introductory – information about the addressee and applicant.
Descriptive - contains an indication of the circumstances of the calls (dates and times, duration of conversations, their content). It is necessary to explain exactly how the victim’s rights were violated:
hints of harm or open threats;
night calls.
Petition - contains a request to identify the caller and apply sanctions to him.
List of attachments - you can indicate evidence, if available.
Address for sending a response.
Date of filing, signature of the applicant.

If an application for a crime is filed, the applicant must be warned under Art. 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, on liability for false denunciation, that is, accusing an innocent person of a crime.

Deadlines for consideration of applications

If a victim of telephone hooligans files a crime report, it will be considered in accordance with Parts 1 and 3 of Art. 144 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. The decision on such an appeal is made:

Within 3 days from the date of acceptance - as a general rule.
Within 10 days - at the request of the official conducting the inspection.
Up to 30 days - if it is necessary to carry out individual verification activities that require significant time expenditure - audits, research, examinations, operational investigative activities.

If the prankster’s actions relate to an administrative offense, then an investigation based on the victim’s report is carried out within 30 days.

If at the end of this period the police officers do not provide a response, the victim can contact the prosecutor's office.

Judicial practice: sentences and punishment under Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

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Hooliganism and property crime

Hooliganism is similar to many crimes. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 167, provides an explanation of crimes against property, which are often confused with hooligan acts. Intentional damage (damage) to someone else's property is characterized by certain signs:

purposeful destruction or damage to property;
the object is property relations;
The motives for such actions are of an everyday, moral, economic nature.

With hooliganism, such signs are not observed. Here, too, other people's property can be destroyed, but the object is public order. The motives for such a crime are aimed only at violating the established public order, and not at causing harm to the property of a particular person. The task of law enforcement officers is to correctly classify crimes and classify them as hooligan or personal. Otherwise, there is a violation of the main principle of criminal law, which is the fairness of punishment for the crime committed.