Minority of a deed provided for by the criminal law: praxis legis, guae debet esse

Abstract

Objective: to develop scientifically substantiated provisions on the insignificance of a deed provided for by the criminal law and to propose measures to improve legislation and law enforcement in this area. Methods: dialectical approach to cognition of social phenomena, allowing to analyze them in development and functioning, which contributed to the use of the following research methods: a) general scientific (logical, systemic, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction), b) special (documentary, practical, comparative-legal, formal-legal). Results: the work substantiates the conclusion that the recognition by an inquirer, investigator, prosecutor, judge of the insignificance of a deed provided for by the criminal law should be based on the following information: about the occurrence of all elements and signs of corpus delicti in the deed; about the infliction of small (minor) harm to law-protected interests in conjunction with the intent of the perpetrator aimed at causing such, including the lack of desire to cause harm, which excludes the existence of a reasonable amount of criminal-law harm. It is proposed to supplement Part 1 of Article 24 of the Russian Criminal Procedure Code with a new ground for refusal to initiate criminal proceedings (termination of criminal proceedings), namely, the insignificance of the deed, and to consider it as a circumstance excluding criminal prosecution of a suspect (accused). Scientific novelty: the following means to distinguish a minor act from a crime were substantiated: a) the introduction of the “reasonable amount of criminal-legal harm” category in the investigative and judicial practice, b) the need for law enforcement to establish objective and subjective conditions of minor significance of the deed, c) the proposal on modernizing the criminal-procedural legislation. Practical significance: the main provisions and conclusions stated in the article can be used in scientific, pedagogical, law-making, investigative and judicial activity when considering the issues of application and improvement of the norm on the insignificance of a deed provided for by the criminal law, on the delimitation of such deed from a crime.