The essence of the concept of “murder”
Definition 1
Murder is the intentional causing of death to another person.
The object of the crime is human life. That is why it is important to determine the beginning and end of life. The initial moment of life is the time when the complete expulsion of the fetus from the mother’s body is recorded, that is, when it is separated from the mother’s body (with the exception of an uncut umbilical cord), the fetus experiences spontaneous heartbeat or breathing, and voluntary muscle movement. The moment of death is determined by the fact of irreversible brain death.
The objective side of murder includes:
- action (inaction) aimed at taking the life of another person;
- as a result of the action (inaction), a socially dangerous consequence must occur - the death of a person;
- There must be a causal connection between consequences and action (inaction).
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The subjective side of murder is characterized by the presence of guilt in the form of indirect or direct intent. Attempted murder is associated only with direct intent. A murder is completed only from the moment of death of another person (victim). When committing a murder, it does not matter whether death occurs instantly or after some time.
Note 1
Attempted murder is an action aimed at causing the death of another person, if, due to circumstances beyond the will of the perpetrator, they did not lead to such a result.
Aggravating circumstances
The main list of qualified murders with aggravating features can be found in Part 2 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. These crimes include:
- killing more than one person;
- murder of a person or people close to him for reasons related to the performance of his duties by this person;
- murder of the helpless, including minors, and murder associated with kidnapping;
- murder of a pregnant woman if the perpetrator knew about the pregnancy;
- special cruelty when committing a crime;
- a method of murder that is dangerous not only for the victim, but also for other people, and, accordingly, for society as a whole;
- blood feud motive;
- committing murder as part of a group;
- selfish motive for committing a crime - murder for hire, robbery, extortion, banditry;
- hooligan motive for committing a crime;
- motive for concealing another crime through murder;
- motive of hatred towards races, nationalities, religions and social groups;
- the motive for obtaining organs or tissues from a murdered person.
In addition to the aggravating circumstances specified in Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, when qualifying murder, the motives for committing terrorist acts are assessed, as well as violation of the rules of warfare from other articles of the criminal code.
The maximum penalty for qualified murder is death. Life imprisonment and imprisonment for a term of 8 to 20 years are also applied. For simple murder, punishment under Part 1 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - imprisonment for a term of 6 to 15 years.
Signs of murder
Murder differs from intentional infliction of bodily harm leading to the death of the victim on the subjective side. The intent of the perpetrator in a murder is aimed at directly taking the life of the victim.
The subject of the murder is a sane person who has reached 14 years of age.
Murder is committed by action or omission. In practice, the most common murders are those committed as a result of an act. In this case, the anatomical integrity and functions of vital organs are disrupted. Most actions that cause death are physical in nature. Sometimes murder is committed as a result of mental influence on a person. Murder by omission is observed when the guilty person is obliged to take care of the victim and could and should have taken certain actions that would have prevented the death of the person.
Finished works on a similar topic
Coursework The concept, signs and types of murder 460 ₽ Abstract The concept, signs and types of murder 260 ₽ Examination The concept, signs and types of murder 250 ₽
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Main signs of murder:
- violent nature of death, death is caused by force on a person;
- illegality - any murder (except for the lawful deprivation of life) is prosecuted by law;
- murder is a criminal act that causes the death of a person or encroaches on his life; it is necessary to distinguish murder from unintentional causing of death;
- taking the life of another person.
Justifiable deprivation of life is the infliction of death in a state of necessary defense, as a result of the execution of a death sentence. Murder is the unlawful taking of another person's life (not aiding or killing someone). A request for murder from another person does not exclude responsibility for the crime. A person who knowingly carries out euthanasia bears criminal liability for committing murder.
Other circumstances
Circumstances that change the killer's responsibility can only be aggravating or mitigating his guilt. The signs of a qualified murder are described above; let’s move on to the mitigating circumstances that transfer these murders to the category of privileged murders. The privilege is that the penalty for these crimes is lower than the minimum penalty for simple murder.
For each privileged murder, there is a separate article in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The law establishes that the following circumstances mitigate the guilt of murder:
- murder of a newborn child by its mother during childbirth or immediately after it. Art. 106 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Maximum penalty - 5 years imprisonment;
- a murder that occurred in a state of strong emotional excitement (affect). In accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, affect must arise as a result of the actions of the victim associated with violence, humiliation and insult to the killer, with the creation of a long-term traumatic situation for the future killer. Art. 107 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If one person is killed, the maximum penalty is 3 years of imprisonment, if several are killed - 5 years of imprisonment;
- murder in excess of necessary measures. The article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is divided into two parts. The first describes the excess of self-defense measures, the second - the excess of measures when detaining a criminal. Art. 108 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The maximum penalty for the first part is 2 years in prison, for the second part - 3 years.
From the point of view of jurisprudence, there are no other murders other than simple, qualified and privileged ones. However, other types of murders have taken hold in the popular consciousness. Let's briefly look at the most commonly used names.
Domestic murder
This concept refers to murders that occurred on the basis of hostile relationships that arose during everyday interaction between the criminal and the victim. Most often, such cases occur in a dysfunctional social environment. Killers and victims are often relatives, neighbors, and acquaintances. Among crimes committed within the family, murders account for 12%.
Naturally, such crimes primarily occur due to alcohol abuse or drug use.
Depending on the circumstances of the domestic murder, the punishment for the offender is determined according to one of the above articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Manslaughter
In jurisprudence this concept is no longer used. Instead they talk about causing death by negligence. This crime is punishable under Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The article is divided into 3 parts:
- the first part determines the responsibility of persons who committed this crime in the absence of any aggravating circumstances. The maximum penalty in this case is 2 years in prison;
- the second part contains an aggravating feature - the commission of a crime by a person who improperly performed his duties. For this part, the maximum penalty is 3 years in prison;
- the third part contains an aggravating circumstance - causing the death of several people. Persons held accountable under this part of the article may be imprisoned for up to 4 years.
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If you are the victim of a crime, a lawyer can help ensure that the perpetrator receives the maximum possible punishment. If you or a loved one is accused of murder, a lawyer will evaluate the actions of the police, appeal them if necessary, and collect all the evidence in the case.
Anticipating the outcome
The decisive role is played by the corpus delicti, that is, the circumstances that could prompt or create the conditions for the murder to occur. The concept, characteristics, types of it - all these are components of the subsequent analysis of the crime, helping to correctly interpret its results. But how can these critical indicators be determined?
A mandatory component of this crime is the presence or absence of intent. This means that the citizen acting as the killer had full knowledge, desire and foresight of causing the death of the person. According to the law, it is impossible to judge a person under a criminal article with the interpretation of “murder” if it was committed through negligence. Such points are considered on an individual basis.
The heat of passion
Particular attention will have to be paid to murder committed in a state of passion. This is a mitigating circumstance, but its existence must be proven. But it is worth noting that this is not always possible. The object of the crime is the life of the citizen who caused this condition in the criminal. The objective side includes:
- a state of strong emotional excitement that appeared suddenly;
- affect is caused by: violence, insults, humiliation, illegal or immoral actions, prolonged stay in an unfavorable psychological environment caused by the actions of the victim.
Suddenness is characterized by:
- the appearance of affect immediately after the victim’s actions;
- There is no time difference between the crime and the actions of the victim.
The subjective side is usually called affected intent, and the subject in this situation is a citizen who is in a state of passion.
Features of choosing preventive measures
The length of stay in places of deprivation of liberty depends on a number of factors: the presence/absence of aggravating circumstances, the type and composition of the crime, etc. Deprivation of a person’s life is a particularly serious criminal act. Simply terminating criminal proceedings due to reconciliation of the parties or repentance in this case is impossible. It is also impossible to hold a court hearing without the defendant (only in cases of minor gravity and in the presence of a statement).
The possibility of appointing a special (simplified) procedure for conducting legal proceedings (without calling witnesses) is excluded. The presence of witnesses who can testify in a particular case is mandatory during legal proceedings. According to Russian law, the statute of limitations for depriving a person of life is 15 years. When determining the period of imprisonment and sentencing, full release under an amnesty is excluded. The preventive measure in 98% of cases is detention.
When determining a qualified composition, the length of stay in a prison or colony and the choice of place of serving often depend on the gender of the accused:
- women in most cases are sentenced to a general regime (colonies/settlements are excluded);
- men are sentenced to strict conditions.
Kinds
Despite the fact that the legislator does not directly indicate the motives and purpose of this crime, in judicial practice there are typical types of simple murder that occur most often:
- in a fight or quarrel,
- out of revenge or envy,
- out of jealousy
- with the consent of the victim,
- others, allegedly “motiveless murders.”
Killing in a fight or quarrel . A mandatory point will be the absence of hooligan motives. Murders of this type are extremely varied. First of all, this includes “domestic murders” between relatives, friends, neighbors, often in a state of severe intoxication.
There can be any reasons for disagreements with such dire consequences. So, in 2014 in the Urals, a former teacher killed his friend during a quarrel over literature, what is real art - prose or poetry.
Killing out of revenge or envy.
Revenge is one of the strongest motives for human behavior in general, and quite common for committing crimes.
This category includes those murders that do not fall under other crimes, where revenge is a mandatory feature.
We are talking only about personal hostile relations between the perpetrator and the victim, not related to the performance of public duty. Revenge killing is a kind of lynching, since the perpetrator does not use legal means of compensation for harm, if it was, and often, it can be exaggerated in the mind of the criminal or completely absent.
committed on the grounds of blood feud is not a simple murder Killing out of envy should be considered simple in the same way.
Murder out of jealousy . This category of murders occurs most often on the basis of jealousy due to betrayal, imaginary or real, in love relationships between people. However, jealousy between relatives is also possible.
Thus, fratricide should be considered a simple murder out of jealousy, when the perpetrator thinks that the other child is loved more.
Murder with the consent of the victim . Euthanasia is prohibited by law, so murder, even for noble reasons in order to alleviate the suffering of the victim, is a criminal offense. It is noteworthy that the presence of a “good motive” to reduce the suffering of the patient is not considered a mitigating circumstance, and responsibility for murder occurs on a general basis. Another possible situation is when two people decide to commit suicide, and one of them changes his mind after killing the other.
"Motiveless Murders"
that is, murders in which the motive is not established and there is no way to establish it.
Most often this includes ritual murders, cannibalism , necrophilia , but the qualification of such crimes is complex and largely depends on the specific circumstances of the case.
For example, cannibalism committed with the aim of saving on food is, in fact, a mercenary crime, and should be qualified under part two. Some ritual murders can be classified as murders committed for hooligan reasons, etc.
