Causing harm to health resulting in death: will the person responsible for the death of the victim be held criminally liable if there was proven negligence and what punishment is provided for it?

New edition of Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

1. Causing death by negligence -

shall be punishable by correctional labor for a term of up to two years, or restriction of liberty for a term of up to two years, or forced labor for a term of up to two years, or imprisonment for the same term.

2. Causing death by negligence due to improper performance by a person of his professional duties -

is punishable by restriction of freedom for a term of up to three years, or forced labor for a term of up to three years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years or without it, or imprisonment for the same term with deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions, or engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years or without it.

3. Causing death by negligence to two or more persons -

shall be punishable by restriction of freedom for a term of up to four years, or forced labor for a term of up to four years, or imprisonment for the same term with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years.

Laws governing the situation

“Harm resulting in death” is a wording for which there is no specific article in the Criminal Code. There is Art. 118, dedicated to cases of grievous bodily harm caused by negligence .

There is also Art. 109 of the Criminal Code, which is referred to in the comments to Art. 118. It deals with manslaughter, but does not say anything about “grievous bodily harm”.

Art. 109 is the most suitable for considering such cases . If we take into account the terminology of pathologists, violent death occurs due to injuries incompatible with life, which can be considered as serious harm to health.

NOTE. Cases where initially unintentionally caused serious harm to health led to subsequent deterioration (illness, disability), which, in turn, led to death, remain questionable.

Also questionable is a situation where the accused did not cause severe harm, but death occurred. For example, he simply pushed, and because of this the person fell under a passing car. These cases are considered in a special order; their outcome is very individual and depends on every nuance of the situation.

More information about the issue of causing grievous bodily harm resulting in the death of the victim is here.

Statistics

There are no exact statistics on such cases, although official websites have figures for individual years. Moreover, they do not even appear in a separate column - they are simply mentioned under the table. If we take general indicators, then for every 1 million crimes of various nature there are 2-3.5 thousand cases where death was caused by negligence .

Fatal accidents , where responsibility for what happened lies with the driver, deserve special consideration. These offenses may also fall under the law on causing death by negligence, that is, under Article 109 of the Criminal Code.

In some years, the number of deaths reaches 70%, if calculated as a percentage. In general, their indicator “stays” at a high level.

Murder committed by negligence

"Murder by negligence" is an incorrect term. Murder presupposes that the offender had intent, that is, he intended to take the life of the victim. Therefore, in modern legislation such a phrase is not used.

The distinctive features of causing death by negligence, distinguishing it from murder, are as follows:

the offender did not intend to kill the victim, he had no motivation to take his life and he did not benefit from his death,
the offender believed that his actions would not cause the death of the victim, although he had an idea that such consequences could occur,
There must be a proven cause-and-effect relationship between the actions of the perpetrator and the death of the victim.

IMPORTANT! Death caused by negligence is not considered to be the death of a person resulting from a violation of fire safety rules. In this case, the crime is classified under another article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Composition of the crime and its characteristics

According to Art. 109, the main features of this crime are as follows: :

As a result of certain actions (possibly inaction) of one person, the death of another occurred.
The causing of death was not intentional, i.e. happened by accident.
The actions themselves that caused death were also not intentional. That is, the accused did not pursue the goal of inflicting grievous bodily harm.
The actions or inactions of the accused that led to the situation were fully realized by him. The act implies negligence or frivolity, the consequence of which was the harm caused.

The last point is very important . If a person, suppose, intentionally caused serious harm to the health of his victim, but clearly did not count on a fatal outcome, then this case will be considered by the court under Art. 111, part 4. This carries a prison term of up to 15 years , which radically changes the situation.

REFERENCE. Lawyers point to a frequent situation when it is not clearly established in a case whether harm to health was intentionally caused, although the death of the victim was not part of the plans of the accused, and this has been proven.

Confusion between Art. 111 (clause 4) and art. 109 may result in too little punishment for a truly guilty person or too high a penalty for a person who committed a crime through negligence. Much depends on a good evidence base and the professionalism of the lawyer.

Art . 109 .

The concept of "criminal negligence" . A situation where the defendant failed to foresee that his actions or inactions could lead to death for another person. It is worth noting that this implies that it was possible to foresee such events.
The concept of "criminal frivolity" . A situation where the accused realized that the death of another person as a result of his inaction or action was possible, but assumed a different outcome of events, and without any particular reason. For example, a person hoped that this would not happen.

According to numerous publications by lawyers and advocates, Art. 109 is one of the most difficult to interpret events and separate them. Many cases turn out to be controversial for a number of reasons :

the impossibility of accurately determining whether the accused was aware of the consequences;
whether the actions were intentional;
as well as the degree of his guilt.

Much depends on the circumstances of the case and witness testimony.

What does causing death by negligence mean?

Among criminal acts that in one way or another relate to an attempt on human life, causing death by negligence occupies a special place. In the criminal code, this article is not classified as murder.

Causing death by negligence is an action (or inaction) that results in the death of a person. Moreover, in order for a case to be classified under this article, the criminal must be proven to have no malicious intent or intention to cause death.

Either negligence or a frivolous attitude to what is happening leads to the commission of such a crime. In this case, the perpetrator had to foresee that his actions could cause death, but for some reason he believed that this should not happen.

The main difference between crimes classified under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and murder with indirect intent is that the criminal in the first case is only able to assume that his action will cause the death of a person. In the second case, the criminal realizes that his act will be followed by the death of a person and is indifferent to his fate.

IMPORTANT! Before the collapse of the USSR, causing death by negligence was classified as murder. However, currently in Russia and the countries of the post-Soviet space, this term only refers to causing death committed with malicious intent. Changes in the new version of the legislation made it possible to assign a more lenient punishment under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation than for murder.

Responsibility under Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for unintentional injury to health resulting in death

If the case on this charge is carried out under Art. 109 of the Criminal Code, then the accused will be sentenced under one of the following possible options :

Correctional labor – up to 2 years.
Forced labor for the same period.
Restriction of freedom up to 2 years.
Imprisonment for a similar period.

Paragraph 2 of this article considers situations where death was caused by negligence due to improper performance of professional duties . In this case, the punishment may be one of the following :

Restriction of freedom up to 3 years.
Forced labor for the same period.
Imprisonment for the same period.

Forced labor and imprisonment additionally include a ban on the ability to occupy certain positions or conduct certain activities. This rule can be imposed either for a certain period of up to 3 years or indefinitely, depending on the specific situation.

A separate point in the article is causing death by negligence to two or more persons. In this case, the punishment may be one of the following :

Restriction of freedom – up to 4 years.
Forced labor – a similar period.
Imprisonment for the same period. In this case, a ban may also be imposed on engaging in a certain type of activity or on the ability to hold a certain position. This is due to the fact that death by negligence of two or more persons is most often committed by a person at work or while driving.

How to prove that death was caused by negligence

It is not easy to distinguish between causing death by negligence and murder. However, it is very important to do this: the term and form of punishment for the offender depends on the classification of the crime. Witnesses are involved in the investigation, as well as numerous experts in the field of criminology, medicine and psychology. It is important to identify the elements of the crime, including whether the suspect has malicious intent and intention to kill the victim or cause serious harm to his health.

To prove that death occurred as a result of negligence and to classify the crime under Article 109 of the Criminal Code, the following help:

witness statements. Witnesses can provide information that will become the basis for an indictment. For example, in favor of causing death by negligence are the attempts of the accused to prevent the death of the victim, his state of shock after realizing the fact of the death of another person, etc.
analysis of the psychological portrait of the criminal, characteristics of his personality and the presence of a connection with the victim. Criminal psychologists can cite facts that prove that the accused could not have intended to kill the victim or did not have any personal connections or conflicts with him that could have caused the murder. Refusal of a psychological examination can become an aggravating circumstance and lead to suspicions that the suspect has intentions towards the victim that he wants to hide,
analysis of the circumstances of the case. It is important to find out for what reasons the death of the victim occurred, whether the accused had the opportunity to prevent it, whether his actions are related to the consequences in the form of the death of another person directly or indirectly. Each new evidence can change the court's decision, so great attention is paid to collecting evidence. The decision to order examinations is made by a judge or investigator.

IMPORTANT! At trial, it is important for the lawyer to prove that the defendant did not expect that his actions would cause the death of the victim. Punishment is excluded if the accused did everything possible to prevent the death of another person or did not realize at all that fatal consequences could occur as a result of his actions.

Controversial situations in the investigation of such cases

The investigation of such cases carries many pitfalls. This happens because there are still many options for interpreting the behavior of the accused . There are cases when its intentionality or unintentionality is obvious, but this is not always the case.

An example of a controversial situation: one person pushed another. He fell and hit his head on a concrete slab, which is why he died. The actions of the defendant led to the death of the victim, but if not for an unfortunate set of circumstances, the deceased would have escaped with bruises and abrasions.

Perhaps this would not even fit under the article about minor harm to health. Could the accused even imagine such an outcome? The decision is up to the court.

There are many such and similar situations.

IMPORTANT! Witness testimony, if any, plays a big role in the investigation.

The most common confusion occurs with the following articles :

Art. 111, part 4 of the Criminal Code , when grievous harm was caused intentionally, and the accused was fully aware of this, but did not think that it would lead to death.
Art. 105 of the Criminal Code , when a person intentionally caused damage that led to death.