The Evolution of the Institution of Error in the Criminal Law of Russia

Abstract

Relevance. An analysis of the legal literature shows that when defining an error in criminal law, lawyers use different conceptual categories, which confuses the understanding and qualification of a legal or factual error. In this connection, the article considers the genesis of the institution of error in the criminal law of Russia, in particular, the classical approach to understanding, defining and systematizing errors, fixing the position that the only basis for criminal liability is the commission of an act that contains signs of all elements of a crime. In the article, the problem of an error in the current criminal law of the Russian Federation is revealed from the standpoint of the need to establish the internal attitude of the subject both to actions (inaction) and to the consequences in real life, to each legally significant objective sign of a particular act.The purpose of the study is to analyze the improvement of the institution of error in the criminal law of the Russian Federation.Objectives: to analyze the special historical and modern literature on the genesis of errors in domestic criminal law and, based on the current law, the achievements of the domestic science of criminal law, to summarize the experience of defining and logic-linguistic concepts of criminal law error.Methodology. The research was based on the application of philosophical methods for studying the categories that make up the concept of a criminal law error, as well as on general scientific methods: system-structural, analysis and synthesis; specific legal, comparative legal analysis of documents, content analysis of texts, etc.The results of the study are distinguished by the theoretical and applied orientation of the genesis of the institution of error in domestic criminal law and the identification of the most complete characteristics of the concept of criminal law error. Conclusion. Based on the results of the study, it is stated that the modern understanding of the institution of error takes into account historical approaches to the considered phenomenon in Russian criminal law, is based on them and corresponds to the criminal policy of the Russian Federation.