The difference between an administrative offense and a crime: the difference between offenses

What is an administrative offense

An administrative offense is an unlawful action against a specific person, property or law. It does not pose a danger to society, but it can cause negative consequences or undermine the established order in a certain area.

Such actions include violating public order or trespassing on personal property. Failure to comply with regulations regarding human health, ecology, and transport is also considered an administrative offense. The legislation provides for punishment under the current code.

Every illegal act is confirmed by an action or inaction that goes against the established rules. Actions may be committed intentionally or through negligence. As a result, the person is held accountable.

Administrative violations do not make a citizen socially dangerous. They allow him to remain in society. Despite the illegality of the actions, the consequences are quite mild.

These include the following:

imposition of a fine depending on the severity of the article of law that was violated;
arrest for up to 15 days;
community service lasting up to 150 hours;
deprivation of the right to engage in a specific type of activity.

The decision to initiate a case is made by an official appointed by the state. The decision is issued by the prosecutor. The investigation of the offense takes a maximum of 1 month. During this period, it is necessary to inspect the scene and collect evidence. Then a protocol on illegal actions is drawn up or the case is closed.

Concept and types of offenses

Tort means an illegal act that causes harm to society. The commission of an offense can be caused by the personal motives of the guilty person and affect various spheres of society.

Offenses are divided into the following types:

an offense that is not particularly dangerous to society, but involves a violation of legal norms;
the crime is especially dangerous for society and each person individually and is regulated by criminal law.

An example of a misconduct is violation of discipline in the performance of official duties, disobedience to management.

An example of a crime would be any act by an individual that falls under criminal law.

The concept and types of offenses exist in all social legal relations, which, in turn, divides the offense in the form of a misdemeanor into the following subtypes:

disciplinary (in the performance of labor duties);
administrative (violation of public order);
civil law (in the field of property and personal non-property relations).

Concept of criminal offense

This term is used by lawyers to describe an illegal act directed against society. At the same time, the conditions of liability for it are regulated by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Most often, such acts require the arrest of the offender.

Typically, criminal offenses involve the commission of actions that pose a threat to human life or health. They can also pose a danger to the property of an individual or the state. In addition, the crime may be directed against a specific organization or nature.

Expert opinion

Karnaukh Ekaterina Vladimirovna

Graduated from the National University of Shipbuilding, majoring in Enterprise Economics

The guilt or innocence of a person suspected of a crime is determined by the court. According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the convicted person cannot be under 16 years of age. If it turns out that the act does not constitute a crime, during the trial it can be reclassified as an administrative offense.

In essence, a crime represents a certain line beyond which the generally known norms of morality and law end. Therefore, people who crossed it are held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

Criminal act

The list of all crimes, indicating the articles, is contained in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which is a unified collection of laws for criminal atrocities.

A criminal offense is a dangerous, illegal act that, through its action or inaction, violates the rights and freedoms of other citizens, which subsequently gives rise to liability for the act.

In turn, crimes are divided into the following types:

deliberate, which from the very beginning of their commission have criminal and malicious intent;
careless, committed in connection with a person’s careless attitude towards his duties or due to negligence.

The concept and types of offenses in the field of criminal legislation have the highest degree of increased danger and have a special, illegal nature of the act.

An example of careless crimes is Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, when careless actions of a driver lead to death and serious consequences for the health of a passenger or pedestrian.

Examples of intentional crimes are: murder, rape, theft, fraud, robbery and other acts provided for in a special part of the crime code.

A criminal offense is a particularly dangerous crime, the legal consequences of which will be a criminal record.

How are they similar?

Some articles of the Criminal and Administrative Codes are similar. However, it is important to accurately determine the extent of influence on the person who committed the crime.

Each system has a different protective function. It is implemented in various areas in society. All punishment measures used are educational in nature.

The state believes that a specific measure not only has a beneficial effect on the criminal himself, but also shows other members of society what awaits them if the law is broken.

What is the difference?

The law interprets administrative offenses and criminal offenses differently. Therefore they differ in many aspects.

Signs

The following signs are considered important differences between the violations under consideration:

Encroachment on human life and health. A criminal offense implies a direct impact on the opponent’s personality - this can be bodily injuries of varying degrees of severity or other actions that pose a threat to human life. Administrative offenses involve the creation of special conditions under which the vital activity and normal functioning of the human body are limited.
Impact on someone else's property. In criminal practice, the main articles in this part include “robbery”, “robbery”, “theft”. They characterize a certain action that is associated with the seizure or destruction of someone else's property by persons who are aware of the end result. In administrative offenses, a person damages property due to carelessness or negligence.
An attack on generally accepted norms of behavior in society. In criminal practice, such crimes are considered acts that undermine the moral and legal foundations of the state. They are considered socially dangerous. Such articles include “extremism” or “inciting national hatred”. The Administrative Code also includes a similar article, in case of violation of which it is impossible to establish a direct antisocial effect on the laws. An example is “unauthorized use of state symbols.”

Compound

Both administrative and criminal offenses are characterized by the same composition, which includes the following elements:

an object;
objective side;
subject;
subjective side.

Responsibility

Criminal responsibility is for violating the laws provided for in the Criminal Code. Such crimes are considered socially dangerous and infringe on property, personality, public order, rights and freedoms of people.

Administrative liability is provided for violations that are provided for in the Administrative Code. Such acts, in particular, include violation of traffic rules and fire safety.

Investigation

If, after identifying an administrative offense, there is a need to conduct an examination or other procedural actions, an administrative investigation is carried out. This is often required in case of violations in the field of taxes and duties, antimonopoly legislation, and customs affairs. The duration of such an investigation should not exceed 1 month.

Criminal proceedings include a number of stages, one of which is the pre-trial investigation. At this stage, a medical examination, seizure of the crime weapon, selection of explanations, and obtaining expert opinions may be carried out.

Punishment

Administrative offenses involve relatively mild penalties. This could be correctional work, penalties, or a warning. Criminal liability threatens to imprisonment for several years.

Jurisprudence for Dummies – 9. Offenses and legal liability

I continue the series of notes “Jurisprudence for Dummies.” I ask my “non-dummies” readers to point out significant errors, as well as supplement the text with their thoughts or interesting examples. The notes are intended for people without a legal education who want to learn more about the legal field, as well as for schoolchildren who are preparing to take the Unified State Exam in social studies.

Previous parts: “1. What is law?”, “2. Legal relations, legal facts and legal personality", "3. Regulatory legal acts as sources of law", "4. Other sources of law", "5. System of law (part 1)", "6. System of law (part 2)", "7. Public and private law", "8. What is an offense?

Last time we found out what an offense is and what its essential features are. Let me remind you that an offense is a guilty act (action or inaction) that is contrary to the rules of law and entails legal liability.

And now we can figure out exactly what acts are considered illegal and what types of legal liability are established for them.

Crimes and criminal liability

A criminal offense (also known as a crime) is a violation of the law that the state considers the most dangerous to society. O is a term from legal science. In laws and court decisions it is not used, but rather they say “crime”.

The rules for qualifying crimes and determining punishments are described in detail in the so-called General Part of the Criminal Code (Article 1 - Article 104.3), and all possible crimes are described in the Special Part (Article 105 - Article 360). All crimes are thematically grouped into six sections, each of which is divided into chapters.

Most articles of the Special Part of the Criminal Code consist of several parts. The first part usually describes the act itself, and the subsequent ones describe some signs that make it more dangerous (they are called “qualifying signs” in legal science). Each part has its own punishment. Accordingly, a person is punished under the first part only if his act does not have qualifying features.

As an example, “Article 220. Illegal handling of nuclear materials or radioactive substances”: “1.
Illegal acquisition, storage, use, transfer or destruction of nuclear materials or radioactive substances - is punishable by restriction of freedom for a term of up to 2 years, or forced labor for a term of up to 2 years, or arrest for a term of up to 4 months, or imprisonment for a term of up to 2 years. . 2. The same acts, which through negligence resulted in the death of a person or other grave consequences, are punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to 5 years. 3. Acts provided for in the first part of this article, resulting in the death of two or more persons through negligence, are punishable by imprisonment for up to 7 years.”
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation specifies as many as 13 types of punishment for criminals. Here they are in increasing order of severity: - fine; - deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities; - deprivation of a special, military or honorary title, class rank and state awards; - compulsory work; — correctional work; — restrictions on military service; — restriction of freedom; — forced labor; - arrest; - detention in a disciplinary military unit; - imprisonment for a certain period of time; - life imprisonment; - the death penalty.

Of the listed types of punishment, three (forced labor, arrest, death penalty) are not used today.

In the verdict, the judge can assign the main punishment and supplement it with another one. For example, a fine + deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or imprisonment + a fine. Some punishments (for example, a fine) can be both primary and additional, while others (for example, imprisonment) can be only the main punishment. And deprivation of title, rank and awards can only be an additional punishment.

Well, now I’ll comment briefly on each type of punishment - what is its meaning and how it is applied in practice.

With a fine

, I think everything is clear - this is when money is collected from a person for the state budget. For criminal articles, the fine can range from 5 thousand to 5 million rubles (in rare cases - up to 50 million rubles) (Article 46 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

“Deprivation of the right to hold certain positions...”

, as a rule, are prescribed to people who have committed a crime while performing professional duties. This is usually an additional rather than a primary punishment. That is, a person, for example, is sentenced to imprisonment, and is additionally prohibited from doing anything after serving his sentence. For example, a civil servant may receive such a punishment for accepting a bribe, a doctor - for causing the death of a patient through negligence, an accountant - for helping to evade taxes. It is not installed for life, but for a certain period - usually several years. At the same time, the law does not provide clear rules - representatives of which profession and for what reason such punishment can be given. In Yekaterinburg, a court even banned a person from engaging in journalism. In 2014, the Leninsky District Court of Yekaterinburg found the former editor-in-chief of the Ura.ru news agency Aksana Panova guilty under articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “coercion to a transaction” and “extortion”, sentenced her to two years probation and banned her from engaging in journalistic activities for two years (RAPSI ). However, later the Sverdlovsk Regional Court, considering a complaint against the verdict, lifted the ban on the profession (Lenta.Ru).

«Deprivation of a special, military or honorary title

..." - here everything is more or less clear from the name. Such punishment is imposed only for grave and especially grave crimes (with a maximum penalty of more than five years in prison). As I already said, this punishment can only be additional. As an example, we can recall the Budanov case. In 2003, the North Caucasus District Military Court found Colonel Yuri Budanov guilty of the abduction and murder of the Chechen girl Elza Kungaeva, sentenced him to 10 years in prison, and also deprived him of a state award (Order of Courage) and the military rank of “Colonel”.

«Mandatory work

“is a popular and widespread type of punishment in the world. In other countries it may have a different name, such as "community works". This is when people are not deprived of their freedom, but are forced to do some socially useful work in their free time from their main job - cleaning the streets, collecting garbage, painting fences. In Russia, compulsory labor is established for a period of 60 to 480 hours, and the convicted person must serve no more than four hours a day (Part 2 of Article 49 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Lyrical digression: labor corrects

Correction through mandatory works is a popular theme in the media and works of art. Many consider such punishment to be an effective way to rehabilitate offenders, as opposed to imprisonment, which only further corrupts a person.

A popular story in the media is when rich and successful people are sentenced to compulsory labor. Thus, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was sentenced to work in a nursing home for tax evasion (Forbes), and the singer and fashion model Paris Hilton was sent by the court to improve the streets of Los Angeles for drug possession (NEWSru.co.il).

In Russia, the most famous person sentenced to compulsory labor was businessman Alexander Lebedev, one of the hundred richest people in the country. During the filming of the NTVshniki program on September 16, 2011, Lebedev and businessman Sergei Polonsky began to argue in a raised voice, after which Lebedev hit Polonsky. In July 2013, the Ostankino District Court of Moscow found the businessman guilty under Part 2 of Art. 116 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (battery for hooligan reasons) and sentenced him to 150 hours of compulsory labor (Pravo.Ru).

Lebedev was sent to serve his sentence at his place of registration - in the Chernsky district of the Tula region. As a result, the businessman was engaged in landscaping the territory of a kindergarten in the village of Popovka and some other objects. After serving his sentence, he did not say anything about his correction, but spoke with satisfaction about the results of his work: “I completed everything in the kindergarten, repaired a kindergarten and a school in Popovka, helped make a road in Slobodskoye, swept everything. I received a certificate of release from punishment in connection with its completion” (Interfax).

The next punishment is “ corrective labor”

“—the name is not very successful. You might think that this is some kind of mandatory work. Due to the similarity in name, these two types of punishment are often confused in the media. In fact, it only consists of deducting from 5% to 20% from a person’s salary into state income. In fact, you get the same fine, but in installments. In Soviet times, it was not difficult to apply this type of punishment, because almost all people worked somewhere, and the size of the salary did not differ much between different people. Today, it is more difficult to carry out such a punishment: some people do not work at all and make do with odd jobs, others work in several places, and still others live on income from business, securities or renting out real estate. Theoretically, if a person is unemployed, he can be temporarily given a job in agreement with the city authorities. In practice, naturally, this causes difficulties - it is unclear who needs such an employee and who will have to pay his salary. As a result, this type of punishment is not used very often. Correctional labor is established for a period of two months to two years (Part 2 of Article 50 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

«Restrictions on military service

“is also not a very good name. In fact, this is the same correctional work, but for contract military personnel. Here, too, no more than 20% of a military man’s salary is collected (it is called “cash allowance”). Plus, there are indeed some restrictions on military service - for example, a person cannot be promoted to military rank for some time.

«Restriction of freedom

“These are various kinds of restrictions that can be imposed on a convicted person.
For example, do not leave home at a certain time of the day, do not leave the city, do not attend certain events, do not change your place of work without the consent of the authorities. In theory, such punishment should prevent the criminal from returning to “bad company.” There are no clear rules in the law - for what crime what restrictions of freedom should be applied - in each case the judge decides this himself. Quote from the court decision under paragraph “c” of Part 3 of Art. 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (grand theft): “After serving the main sentence on the basis of Art.
53 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation establishes the following restrictions: to appear twice a month for registration with the body that supervises the serving of sentences by convicts in the form of restriction of freedom (hereinafter referred to as the body executing the punishment); do not leave your place of residence from 22:00 to 06:00; do not visit cafes, bars, clubs, entertainment centers and restaurants; not to travel outside the municipality in which he will reside; do not change your place of residence or stay, do not attend mass events or participate in them without the consent of the body executing the punishment" (Resolution of the Presidium of the Krasnodar Regional Court dated February 24, 2016 in case No. 44U-772/2015)

Arrest

- this is a short (up to six months) imprisonment in strict isolation. It was assumed that in such cases the prisoner would not be sent to a colony, but to special detention houses. But since such houses were not built, this punishment is not applied. How this will all look in practice is still unclear.

«Confinement in a disciplinary military unit

“applies to military personnel who have committed various military crimes, including under Art. 335 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of the statutory rules of relations between military personnel...” (so-called “hazing”) and Art. 337 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Unauthorized abandonment of a unit or place of service.” A disciplinary military unit is a special military formation with particularly strict conditions of service, something between a prison and an army. The convicted person can stay in it from three months to two years.

«Forced labor

“appeared in the Criminal Code in 2011, but are still not applied. The idea is to create special correctional centers in each region, where convicts would do some kind of work. At the same time, complete isolation from society is not expected - convicts can live in a dormitory, and if they behave well, then in a rented or their own apartment. The correctional center must provide convicts with work, which they have no right to refuse, and pay them a salary, from which a certain percentage is collected by court verdict. Judging by the description, it turns out to be something between correctional labor and imprisonment. How this will happen in reality is not yet entirely clear.

And finally, the most well-known punishment is imprisonment, divided into two types - “ imprisonment for a certain period of time.”

" and "
life imprisonment
". As stated in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, deprivation of liberty “consists of isolating the convicted person from society by sending him to a penal colony, placement in an educational colony, a medical correctional institution, a correctional colony of general, strict or special regime, or to prison.” As you can see, there are many types of institutions where the convicted person serves his sentence. The most severe imprisonment is considered to be in a special regime colony - those who have repeatedly committed the same crimes (recidivists) or those sentenced to life imprisonment are sent there.

Well, about the death penalty

I already told you once. The Constitutional Court indicated that it should not be applied, which is why our courts do not impose death sentences. But State Duma deputies did not begin to amend the Criminal Code - perhaps they hope that the Constitutional Court will change its mind.

Administrative offenses and administrative liability

An administrative offense is a violation of the law that the state considers less dangerous to society than a crime. There are less serious consequences for the violator and a simplified procedure for bringing to justice - in most cases you can do without trial. Usually, either police officers or officials of some government department (customs officers, border guards, employees of Rospotrebnadzor or the Federal Antimonopoly Service) themselves find out the circumstances and draw up a so-called “resolution on the case of an administrative offense.” There they indicate what offense the person has committed and prescribe punishment. Well, if a person does not agree with the decision, he can appeal it in court.

In addition, for some offenses with serious penalties - such as administrative arrest or compulsory labor - only a court can make a decision.

Both a person and an organization can commit an administrative offense. Citizens most often encounter this area when driving a car. Most traffic violations are administrative violations.

All possible violations are listed in articles 5.1-21.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (CAO RF). They are grouped into chapters, each of which is devoted to one type of violation - for example, “administrative offenses in the field of environmental protection” or “administrative offenses in transport.”

As in the case of crimes, administrative offenses are differentiated depending on the amount of damage, method of commission, purpose and reasons, etc. For many articles, there is also a division into parts, as in criminal law. The first part of the article describes the action itself, and the subsequent parts describe various circumstances aggravating liability (for example, major damage).

There are no clear criteria for classifying a particular act as a criminal or administrative offense. Sometimes even the same act, if the damage is small, is classified as administrative, and if it is large, as criminal. For example, theft of someone else's property worth less than 1000 rubles. is an administrative offense (Article 7.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation “Petty theft”). And if the value of the property is greater, then this is already a crime - theft or fraud (Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

If a violation of traffic rules led to minor and moderate harm to health, then this is an administrative offense (Article 12.24 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, fine or deprivation of rights). And if it led to the infliction of serious harm to health or death, then this is already a crime under Art. 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. So the line separating an administrative offense from a criminal offense is very thin.

Sometimes the State Duma decides that it is necessary to tighten or soften responsibility for some act - and then it moves from the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation or vice versa. Now, for example, they plan that beatings (Part 1 of Article 116 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), threats to kill (Part 1 of Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and malicious evasion of alimony payments (Article 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) will cease to be crimes and will become administrative offenses (). So, if you want to punch someone in the face or are not going to pay child support for your children, this is good news for you - the punishment will be lighter, and you will not have a criminal record.

Offenses have even more surprising movements - some travel from one code to another and then return back. For example, in the Criminal Code at one time there was article 129 “Slander”. In 2011, it was excluded from the Criminal Code, and the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation was supplemented with Article 5.60 “Slander.” But already in the next year, 2012, they decided to return the slander to its place. It appeared again in the Criminal Code, this time under number 128.1. As Saltykov-Shchedrin joked about this, some laws are issued simply “so that legislators do not become stagnant in idleness.”

All types of administrative penalties are listed in Part 1 of Art. 3.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, and here they are not sorted by degree of increasing severity: - warning; - administrative penalty; — confiscation of the instrument or subject of an administrative offense; — deprivation of a special right granted to an individual; — administrative arrest; — administrative expulsion from the Russian Federation of a foreign citizen or stateless person; — disqualification; — administrative suspension of activities; - compulsory work; — an administrative ban on visiting the venues of official sports competitions on the days they are held.

As you can see, some types of punishments coincide with criminal ones - for example, a fine, compulsory labor and disqualification. By “disqualification” we mean approximately the same thing as deprivation of the right to hold certain positions in criminal law.

Well, I’ll say a few words about purely administrative penalties.

Warning

are prescribed for minor violations that do not pose a serious danger. This punishment does not look the way many people imagine it to be. You might unknowingly think that a warning is when someone scolds you and asks you not to do this again. In fact, a police officer or official will not only warn you, but will also draw up a resolution regarding the administrative offense. It will indicate that you have committed such and such an offense, and the punishment for it is a warning. It does not immediately cause any adverse consequences. But if you commit a similar offense within a year, this will be an aggravating circumstance when imposing a punishment (clause 2, part 1, article 4.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

Confiscation of an instrument or subject of an administrative offense

- this is when the instrument or subject of the offense is confiscated from the offender without compensation. The instrument is what you used to commit the offense, and the object is what it was aimed at. For example, if you carried out illegal archaeological excavations (Article 7.15 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation), then you may not only be fined, but also confiscate archaeological finds (the subject of the offense) and tools (the instrument of the offense).

Deprivation of a special right granted to an individual

- this is when a person is deprived of some rights for a certain period of time. The most famous is “deprivation of the right to drive a vehicle” (also known as “deprivation of rights”), which is prescribed for the most dangerous traffic violations.

Administrative arrest

applies under the most serious articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. It is prescribed for a period of up to 15 days (in special cases - up to 30 days). Unlike criminal arrest, administrative arrest exists and is used. A person is serving his sentence in a so-called special detention center - an institution where those sentenced to arrest, as well as illegal migrants, are isolated until they are deported from the country. In Soviet times, those serving administrative arrest were sent to various public works - in particular, this became the basis of the plot of the first part of the film “Operation “Y” (short story “Partner”). However, now such an order is not provided - the person simply serves his sentence in isolation from society. Although, perhaps, not too hard work in the fresh air would be more pleasant even for the arrested themselves. “When I talked with those administratively arrested, the majority said that they would prefer to work than just be in isolation,” says Major General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova. “Isolation, even with three meals a day and permission to play chess, depresses people” (Free Press)

“Administrative expulsion from the Russian Federation

…” is what is colloquially called “deportation,” that is, sending a foreigner to his homeland. This is how foreigners who violate Russian migration laws are usually punished.

"Administrative suspension of activities"

— this type of punishment applies to legal entities. It consists in the fact that organizations are prohibited from operating for a certain period of time for particularly serious violations.

Finally, the last one on this list is a punishment that appeared in 2013 called “ administrative ban on visiting the venues of official sports competitions on the days of their holding.”

". This is an analogue of “restriction of freedom” in criminal law, but only for a specific category of violators—especially violent football fans. Of course, the law says nothing specifically about football, but it is unlikely that figure skating or chess fans will be punished in this way.

Civil violations and civil liability

A tort, also known as a tort, is either a breach of contract or other harm to people or organizations. Since it is impossible to describe all such cases in the law, there is no clear list of civil offenses. But they are all based on the provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Civil Code of the Russian Federation) and other sources of civil law. A person or organization (including the state) can commit a civil offense.

It must be said that the term “civil violation” is rarely found in court decisions. The court usually simply describes how one person violated the rights of another person and caused him damage and in what amount he must compensate him. However, for convenience, we will call all such cases offenses.

Whether to hold the offender accountable or not is up to the victim. He himself goes to court, proves the fact of the violation and the damage caused by it. Almost all types of punishment are monetary penalties. Unlike fines in criminal and administrative cases, these penalties go directly to the victim, and not to the state budget.

Civil violations are divided into two categories - contractual and non-contractual.

In the first case, an agreement was concluded between the parties, and the violator either did not fulfill it or performed it poorly: he sold low-quality goods, built a building with a delay, lost cargo entrusted for transportation, did not pay insurance money, did not move out of the rented premises on time, was late in payment credit.

In the second case, the offender caused damage to someone with whom he had no agreement: people flooded the apartment on the floor below, the driver crashed into someone else’s car and damaged it, a thief stole a laptop, utility workers damaged someone’s advertising structure, the owner of a lost dog announced, that he would pay a reward to the finder, but did not pay.

For these and many other violations, there are three main types of civil liability: - recovery of damages; — collection of penalties; - compensation for moral damage.

Recovery of damages

consists of two types - firstly, recovery
of actual damage
, and secondly, recovery
of lost profits
. Real damage is the cost of bringing the victim’s property to its original condition (including compensation for the cost of lost property or return of money spent). And lost profits are the amount of income that the victim could have received if his rights had not been violated.

Let's imagine, for example, that the car enthusiast Ivanov drove into the car of the taxi driver Petrov. The car was so damaged that it could not be driven for two weeks while it was repaired at a car service center. The cost of repairing a car is real damage, and the money that Petrov could have earned by working as a taxi driver for two weeks is lost profit.

Another case is that an agro-industrial company sold two hundred tons of flour to the Don Pasta company. However, the flour turned out to be of poor quality and unsuitable for making pasta. As a result, Don Pasta wasted money on flour, and reduced the amount of work for another week before they were able to buy and receive raw materials from another supplier. The money that Don Pasta has already paid for flour and which they are demanding back is real damage. And the profit that they could have earned if the flour were of normal quality is lost profit.

I would like to note right away that the amount of lost profits is difficult to prove, and precise methods for calculating it have not been developed. Russian courts do not like to impose it and in most cases limit themselves to collecting actual damages.

Penalty

- this is the amount that the violator must pay to the victim if he does not fulfill the contract on time. The penalty was created for those cases when the parties to the contract want to further protect themselves. For example, the buyer and seller entered into an agreement: the buyer must pay 100 thousand rubles. until May 1, and the seller - to deliver the goods to him before May 5. Additionally, they prescribed a penalty: if one of the parties to the contract is late in fulfilling their obligations, he will have to pay the other 500 rubles. for each day of delay. As a result, both have an additional incentive to fulfill the agreement clearly and on time.

The penalty may be contractual or legal. The contractual agreement is established by agreement of the parties, who themselves determine its size (as in the example above). And what is legal is established by law. A number of such penalties are spelled out in the Russian Federation Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”. For example, for violating the deadline for eliminating a defect in a product and in a number of other cases, the entrepreneur pays the consumer a penalty in the amount of one percent of the price of the product for each day of delay (Part 1 of Article 23 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”).

Penalties are collected only for contractual violations.

Finally, compensation for moral damage

, which I already spoke about once. Moral harm is physical or moral suffering caused to a citizen by the actions of an offender (Article 151 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Accordingly, if someone caused you physical or mental suffering, he must compensate for it. Compensation for moral damage can only be recovered in favor of a citizen, but not a legal entity. This is logical, because a legal entity is unlikely to experience physical and moral suffering.

There are two problems with compensation for moral damage. Firstly, it is not entirely clear when a person actually suffers moral harm. Secondly, if the court recognizes that this harm has been caused, it is not entirely clear how to count it. This problem has not yet been properly resolved, and even if the Russian court awards compensation for moral damage, it does not explain its amount in any way.

In addition to the types of punishments listed above, the court may oblige the offender to take certain actions - for example, publish a refutation or hand over something to the victim.

Labor offenses, disciplinary and financial liability

A labor offense is a violation by an employee or employer of labor law standards. As I already wrote, in legal science they came up with a name only for a violation committed by an employee - it is called a disciplinary offense. As for violations committed by the employer, there is no separate name for it.

If an employee violates labor law norms, he can be brought to two types of liability - disciplinary and material. If the employer violates the law, he can only face financial liability. This is, of course, if there are no signs of an administrative or criminal offense in his actions - but that’s another story.

So, a disciplinary offense is a violation by an employee of his duties. Types of disciplinary offenses and penalties for them can be found in Article 192 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (LC RF) and the articles to which it refers. Among others, one can name absenteeism, appearing at work while drunk, theft at the place of work, disclosure of official secrets, as well as “failure or improper performance by an employee through his fault of his work duties.”

There are the following types of disciplinary penalties: - reprimand; - reprimand; - dismissal.

In fact, there are only two of them, because there is no difference between the first and second types of punishment. Both a remark and a reprimand in themselves do not carry negative consequences for the offender. However, they may be grounds for dismissal if the employee later violates his job duties again within a year. In general, reprimands and reprimands play approximately the same role in labor law as a warning does in administrative law.

Reprimands or reprimands are prescribed for less serious violations of labor duties, and dismissal for more serious ones.

The employer holds the employee accountable for disciplinary action. There is no need to go to court in this case. And only if the employee does not agree with such a punishment, he can appeal the employer’s decision in court.

In addition to disciplinary liability, the employee may also be subject to financial liability.

. This is something like civil liability, but in labor law. So, if an employee caused damage to the employer (damaged equipment, damaged a company car, lost goods, broke a chair in the office), he must compensate for it. In this case, the employee is obliged to compensate the employer only for actual damage, but lost profits cannot be recovered from him (Article 238 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). By default, the employer cannot recover more than a month's salary from the employee (Article 241 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) and only in some expressly specified cases the employee must respond in full - for example, if he caused damage while intoxicated or as a result of committing a crime. All cases of full financial liability are prescribed in Art. 243 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

The employer himself can recover material damage only within the limits of a month's salary and only within a month from the date the amount of damage is established. If this period is violated or the amount is greater, then recovery of material damage can only be done through the court (Article 248 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

In addition, the employer can be held financially liable for violating the rights of employees. For example, if an employer illegally fired an employee or suspended him from work, delayed the issuance of a work book, spoiled or damaged his property, or caused damage to his health due to non-compliance with safety rules - in all these cases, the employee has the right to recover damages from the employer. In this case, the employer bears financial responsibility in full, and it may include real damage, lost profits, and moral damage.

Summary

So, there are four main types of offenses - criminal, administrative, civil and labor (including its subtype - disciplinary).

A criminal offense, also known as a crime, is, from the point of view of the state, the most dangerous violation of the law. All possible crimes are prescribed in the Criminal Code. There are 13 types of punishments prescribed for criminals, among the most severe are fines, compulsory labor, restriction of freedom and imprisonment for a certain period.

An administrative offense is a violation that the state considers less dangerous to society than a crime. All administrative offenses are specified in the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses. There is a simplified procedure for bringing to justice - in most cases you can do without trial. Both a person and an organization can commit an administrative offense. The most important types of administrative penalties are an administrative fine, deprivation of a special right granted to an individual, administrative arrest, administrative deportation from the Russian Federation, administrative suspension of activities and compulsory labor.

A labor offense is a violation by an employee or employer of labor law standards. In legal science, they came up with a name only for a violation committed by an employee - it is called a disciplinary offense. If an employee violates the law or an employment contract, he can be brought to two types of liability - disciplinary and material. If the employer violates the law, he can only face financial liability. Three types of disciplinary sanctions: reprimand, reprimand and dismissal. At the same time, a remark and a reprimand are actually the same thing.

In addition to disciplinary liability, the employee and employer may be held financially liable. This is something like civil liability, but in labor law. It consists in the fact that one of the parties to the employment contract compensates for property damage caused to the other party.