Specifics of criminal liability for a brutal and premeditated murder under the criminal legislation of some foreign countries

Abstract

The article is dedicated to research on criminal liability for a brutal and premeditated murder under the criminal legislation of some foreign countries. It determines the principal trends in inflicting punishment for this type of an aggravated premeditated murder. It explains that the states of continental Europe and the countries of the Anglo-Saxon legal system have no common approach to incorporating a characteristic of a premeditated murder such as «extreme brutality» in their criminal legislations. It shows that the relevant characteristic is represented by a full scope of extreme brutality in the criminal laws of some states; other countries define just some aspects of extreme brutality; yet in a number of countries, extreme brutality is not defined as an aggravating circumstance of a murder at all. In other countries, although extreme brutality is not defined as a qualification, the elements of a crime are defined as a premeditated murder committed in a brutal way. Keywords: a premeditated murder, an aggravating circumstance, extreme brutality, criminal liability, foreign legislation, legal systems, punishment