On Understanding the Elements of a Threat of Homicide

Abstract

The author analyzes the circumstances by which law enforcement practice establishes an element of reality as part of a threat of homicide. It is noted that the courts often interpret the essential element of reality unreasonably narrowly, linking it with reinforcing actions committed by the offender, which leaves a certain number of cases without a proper criminal legal assessment. It is proved that in order to be recognized as real, the threat does not have to be accompanied by reinforcing actions. Examples of other circumstances are given that may be associated with the fear of the victim about the implementation of the threat. A similar approach is proposed to be used in the qualification of those crimes in which the threat of murder is a qualifying circumstance. Various forms of expressing a threat of homicide are being explored. The author comes to the conclusion that if the threat of homicide was expressed not in an affirmative form, but in a probabilistic one, then its qualification under Art. 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is possible only if the intent of the person is established in this way to influence the consciousness of the victim and form in them a state of anxiety for his life. The issue of the qualification of a threat of indefinite volume prospected to the future, a threat expressed to third parties against two or more persons have been resolved. The absence of grounds for accepting the idea of decriminalization of the threat of murder, which is expressed in the literature, is proved. The relevant rules for qualifying the threat of homicide are formulated, which, in the author's opinion, do not contradict the provisions established in the theory of criminal law and correspond to the positions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation expressed on this issue.