RF Criminal Code Research Articles

НАКАЗАНИЕ ЗА КЛЕВЕТУ

Federal Law No. 538-FZ of 30 December 2020 substantially tightened the sanctions of the libel article, which previously contained only fines and compulsory labour, by including com-pulsory labour, arrest and imprisonment in most of them. The explanatory memorandum to the bill explained the changes by the need to provide the court with the choice of fair punish-ment, without specifying this provision in detail. As part of the research described in the article, statistics for the Russian Federation for 2013-2020 were taken from the reports of the Judicial Department of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to study the practice of punishment for defamation. The analysis showed that law enforcers used the potential of sanctions of Article 128-1 of the Criminal Code in their previous edition to a very limited extent. This was reflected in the high share of fines among penalties imposed, as well as in insignificant amounts of fines even for qualified and especially qualified types of libel, despite the fact that sanctions provide for high maxi-mum fine limits - from RUB 500,000 in part 1 of Article 128-1 of the Criminal Code to RUB 5 million in part 5. In particular, the share of fine among penalties imposed for simple libel was over 85%, and the average fine was equal in 2018 to RUB 11,500. - 11.5 thousand roubles, in 2019 - 13.7 thousand roubles, in 2020. - 16.3 thousand roubles. In 2018, the average fine for public libel (part 2, article 128-1 of the Criminal Code) was 19,500 rubles; in 2020 - 23,100 rubles. - The sanction allowed for a fine of up to 1 million roubles, while the sanction allowed for a fine of up to 1 million roubles. Moreover, over a quarter of those convicted for especially qualified defamation under part 5 of article 128-1 of the Criminal Code were sentenced to a fine of 5,000 rubles, i.e., one thousand times less than the maximum limit established by the sanction. Only in single cases of slander convictions, the fine exceeded 100 thousand rubles. The establishment of custodial sentences for qualified and especially qualified types of defamation seems excessive: a verbal crime against a person's honour and dignity does not require such a harsh criminal legal response. Moreover, the legislator has designed sanctions with too broad a framework, fraught with the risk of arbitrariness in sentencing and the for-mation of contradictory judicial practice (for example, under part 5 of article 128-1 of the RF Criminal Code, both a fine of 5 thousand rubles, and imprisonment for the period of 5 years can be imposed). The inclusion of arrest in the sanction cannot be considered justified, as this type of punishment has not been introduced yet. The optimum way to improve the sanctions for the part 2 to 5 parts of Article 128-1 of the Criminal Code of the RF would be to enhance them with correctional labour and restriction of freedom. These types of punishments corre-spond to the typical level of public danger of qualified and especially qualified types of slan-der and perpetrators of such deeds. Their inclusion in the sanctions would compensate for the disadvantages of the latter, related to the restrictions enshrined in the law on imposing com-pulsory works and large fines.

К ВОПРОСУ ОБ ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИИ РЕЗУЛЬТАТОВ МОДЕЛИРОВАНИЯ ЭВАКУАЦИИ ЛЮДЕЙ ПРИ ДОКАЗЫВАНИИ СОСТАВА ПРЕСТУПЛЕНИЯ О НАРУШЕНИИ ТРЕБОВАНИЙ ПОЖАРНОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ

The paper considers special characteristics of classifying crimes related to the fire safety breach. The authors pay special attention to the issue of admissibility of using probabilistic inference of the fire mathematical simulation as evidence when classifying crimes related to the fire safety breach. It is proposed to emphasize the software programs and expert techniques quality before implementing them in the forensic-examination activity. Using the disposition of article 219 of the RF Criminal Code, the authors attempt to discuss the problematic issues related to the application of the results of mathematical simulation of the evacuation of people in case of fire when classifying and proving the obligatoriness (voluntariness) of fire safety requirements. The paper includes examples of problematic issues in the current techniques when calculating the probability of escape of people in the case of fire. The research allows considering both the technical and legal aspects of the application of current techniques for determining the probability of evacuation of people in the case of fire within the frame of forensic fire investigations. The authors propose to correct (develop) and standardize expert techniques used within fire investigations in the cases of fire safety breaches. The paper concludes on the inadmissibility of application of probabilistic meanings (results) obtained in the mathematical simulation of the evacuation of people in the case of fire as the essential evidence in the cases of fire safety breaches. The study allows specifying the problematic issues in using the evacuation simulation results when proving a body of a crime related to the fire safety breaches and substantiating the significance of further research.

Высокоавтоматизированные транспортные средства: угрозы информационной системе безопасности и правовая ответственность

The paper considers the current state and prospects of development of unmanned (highly automated) vehicles in Russia. Relying on the strategic direction that the vehicles functioning in unmanned mode should be gradually included into the already established transport system without exposing other road participants to danger and ensuring the observance of traffic rules, the article gives a detailed analysis of vulnerabilities and risks that have to be faced in the development and operation of highly automated vehicles. The global practice shows that not only technical and organizational means, but also legal measures play a major role in ensuring the safety of unmanned vehicles. The authors propose to develop legal measures aimed at preventing the harm caused by unmanned vehicles to be implemented within the framework of Chapter 27 of the RF Criminal Code “Crimes against traffic safety and vehicle operation”.

Criminal liability of individuals leading a traditional lifestyle in the Russian North for the crimes under the articles 260 and 222, 222.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

This paper summarizes the key issues of rights protection of indigenous minor peoples of the Russian North (Khanty and Mansi), who lead a traditional lifestyle, exploiting their ancestral lands: hunting, fishing, and using other resources. In the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area, individuals are often prosecuted for illegal felling (Article 260, Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), as well as for illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, possession, transportation or carrying of explosives or explosive devices (Article 222.1, RF Criminal Code). However, land management allows for the general public to perform these activities as well, not only for the relatives or friends of the owner of these ancestral lands. Following the casework, the author has found that in a significant number of cases, the investigation fails to establish either the direct ownership of items limited in circulation (gunpowder and ammunition) or specific individuals who performed the felling. Such being the case, the legal owner of the land or its part is held liable. The purpose of this article is to justify the need for amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, i. e. providing for exempting those individuals from criminal liability, who have committed acts, set forth formally, sustaining their traditional lifestyle in the North. This new law will allow the protection of indigenous minorities of the North from inconsistent criminal reprisals and to preserve their cultural practices.

К ВОПРОСУ О РАЗГРАНИЧЕНИЯХ МЕР УГОЛОВНО-ПРАВОВОГО И АДМИНИСТРАТИВНО-ПРАВОВОГО ВОЗДЕЙСТВИЯ ЗА НАРУШЕНИЕ РЕЖИМА САМОИЗОЛЯЦИИ В УСЛОВИЯХ УГРОЗЫ РАСПРОСТРАНЕНИЯ КОРОНАВИРУСНОЙ ИНФЕКЦИИ В РФ

The paper considers the issues of differentiation of criminal and administrative penalties for violation of the regime of restrictions imposed by the government authorities of the Russian Federation, government authorities of the RF subjects to prevent the spread of coronaviral infection. The authors define restrictive measures as the rules of behavior when introducing a high-alert regime. The paper reveals the issues of regulation by the law of the main restrictions caused by the coronavirus spread in the territory of the Russian Federation. The authors define the parameters of restrictions on rights and freedoms, such as self-isolation, high-alert regime, quarantine, emergency, emergency state, as well as liability for violations of restrictive measures when imposing each of the regimes. The paper identifies the lack of sharply defined criteria to introduce one of the regimes as a reason for the lack of practice of applying criminal liability for non-compliance with the above requirements. The authors considered the issue of assigning an action to a criminal or administrative category and clarified the criteria for attribution. The types of violations (regime violations, dissemination of deliberately false information, business violations) that resulted in criminal penalties are defined. The authors considered the conditions for the application of criminal legislation and determined responsibility, depending on the application of a qualifying feature. The paper formulates the proposals for the application of criminal and administrative legislation: they should be distinguished depending on the current regime and not on the ensuring of consequences of its violation. That happens because currently, it is difficult to identify causal relationships due to the understudy of a new phenomenon – the spread of coronaviral infection. The authors consider the adopted amendments to the RF Criminal Code as the state’s activity to ensure the security of the nation.

ПРАВОВОЙ СТАТУС НАЧАЛЬНИКА ПОДРАЗДЕЛЕНИЯ ДОЗНАНИЯ: СОДЕРЖАНИЕ, СТРУКТУРА, ОСОБЕННОСТИ

The paper deals with the problem of determining the legal status of the head of an inquiry department and its legislative regulation. The authors note that the head of an inquiry department is an official of an agency of inquiry authorized to exercise criminal procedural powers as prescribed by law. The study shows that the structure of legal status of the inquiry department head includes the procedural powers of three types: administrative powers towards an investigator; powers for initiation of proceedings, committal for trial, and investigation of a criminal case, as well as the imposition of obligations on management of an investigators’ group; subjective rights exercised by an inquiry department head in the process of exercising the abovementioned authorities. The paper compares separate elements of the legal status of the inquiry department head with those of the legal status of other criminal process members: head of an agency of inquiry, head of an investigating authority, and a prosecutor. In particular, the paper states that the head of an investigating authority is more an individual procedural figure than the head of an inquiry department. The analysis of legislative provisions specified in the RF Criminal Code shows that the head of an investigating authority has rather more powers influencing the preliminary investigation course than the head of an inquiry department. As for the powers of the head of an inquiry agency, they partially repeat those of the inquiry department head. The paper states that such a state of matters negatively influences the implementation of activities on the criminal cases preliminary investigation in the form of an inquiry. The authors suggest two ways of solving the problem of duplicating the elements of the legal status of the head of an inquiry agency and the inquiry department head. The top choice of them is to exclude from the legal status of the head of an inquiry agency those procedural powers through which the control for the activity of the subjects carrying out the preliminary investigation in the form of inquiry is performed.

УГОЛОВНО-ПРАВОВОЕ ПРОТИВОДЕЙСТВИЕ МОШЕННИЧЕСТВУ С ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕМ ЭЛЕКТРОННЫХ СРЕДСТВ ПЛАТЕЖА В РОССИИ И ЗА РУБЕЖОМ

Modern trends indicate an annual increase in the number of registered facts of fraud using electronic payment facilities, as well as the amount of damage associated with it, both in foreign countries and in the Russian Federation. This fact puts on the agenda the problem of improving measures of counteracting this type of crime. A significant element of combating crime is the optimization of criminal legislation, which determines the relevance of this study. The author carried out a comparative legal study of the criminal legislation peculiarities of Russia and foreign countries in terms of combating fraud using electronic payment facilities, notes special features of the conceptual apparatus and legal technique used in domestic and foreign criminal laws. The paper investigates the legal penalization of the above act, the legal technique of formulating the disposition of the corpus delicti providing for liability for fraud using electronic means of payment. The author highlights the wide use of restitution in the criminal legislation of the European Union states. Based on the results of the study, the author determined the features of criminal-legal counteraction to fraud using electronic payment facilities in Russia and abroad, formulated the proposals to improve the criminal legislation in terms of combating fraud using electronic means of payment. More precisely, the author suggested a draft article of the RF Criminal Code establishing liability for illegal use of electronic payment facilities bringing to the uniformity of the law enforcement practice and implementation of the principle of justice of punishment.

Purpose of Punishment as Reflection of Its Social Essence

The article studies the problem of punishment purposes in terms of increasing the importance of social justice and more consistent protection of the rights of victims from criminal acts. It substantiates a model of the hierarchical construction of purposes of criminal punishment based on analysis of the historical laws concerning the purposes of punishment and a comparative study of the legislation of modern states. According to the author, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation should first outline the purposes of criminal legislation or criminal responsibility, and in terms of it should already specify the purposes of punishment and other measures of a criminal and legal nature. The RF Criminal Code should regulate the purposes of all measures of criminal and legal character. He also considers as reasonable the concrete definition of the content for purposes of restoring the social justice by indicating in the law the fact that punishment and other ways of criminal and legal character contribute to its restoration. The article also substantiates a proposal of regulating the property damage. The article also substantiates a proposal for regulating property damages and moral damage compensations as a different measure of criminal and legal character.

Problems of judicial interpretation of signs of legalization (laundering) of money or other property acquired by criminal means

The subject. The article is devoted to analysis of the crime - laundering of money or other property obtained by criminal means,- punished by art. 174, 174.1 of the Russian Criminal Code. The purpose of the article is to confirm or disprove hypothesis that the current Supreme Court’s official legal interpretation of the rules on the laundering of criminal incomes is too narrow; this interpretation is based on a distorted understanding of the objectives of the analyzed criminal acts. The main results and scope of their application. According to judicial practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, firstly, when the money obtained by illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs were cashed by accused person using electronic payment systems, bank accounts or debit cards, and subsequently were spent there is no corpus delicti of money laundering. Secondly, the corpus delicti of money laundering exists in cases when money obtained by criminal means, are invested to capital stock or companies, to a bank deposit, to purchase of income-generating assets, goods or property. Conclusions. The specificity of the situation with criminal responsibility for the legalization of criminal incomes is in the fact that it is possible to use criminal income for personal needs for the purchase of luxury goods directly and without legalization due to the lack of control over the citizens expenditures in the Russian Federation. So direct disposal and personal use of property obtained during a crime by criminal in his own needs should not be qualified under art. 174, 174.1 of the RF Criminal Code as money laundering if the purpose of concealing the criminal nature of assets was not proven. However, when making financial transactions or other transactions designed to disguise the criminal source of income, the intention of criminal to spend them on personal needs should not exclude the application of the analyzed norms of criminal law.

About Some Problems of Criminal liability Regulation for Terror Crimes

The article is devoted to the problem of criminal legal responsibility regulation for terror crimes. The authors analyze the legislative design of such crime compositions, provided by Ch. 24 of the current RF Criminal Code, first of all, the novels included in the Criminal Law in 2013 - 2017, the sanctions on criminal law norms, as well as the effectiveness of their implementation in practice. Critical remarks are made and proposals are introduced aimed at criminal legislation, as well as law enforcement practice improvement. The authors raise the problems of punishment imposition for committed crimes, in particular, criticize the legislator’s position on the imposition of less stringent sanctions for more dangerous forms of assistance to terrorists, and on the imposition of stricter sanctions for less dangerous forms of assistance to terrorism. Judicial practice is analyzed with the purpose to reveal the effectiveness of individual article provision application from RF Criminal Code. They performed the comparison of the criminal law revisions, and they analyzed the introduced changes. The authors make specific proposals to amend certain provisions of the criminal law, in particular, on the criminalization of responsibility for the financing of terrorism as an independent crime.

Prevention of Alcohol Consumption when Driving Transport Vehicles

The article contains a detailed description of special-criminological measures that can be used as a basis for prevention of repeated alcohol use in driving practices. These are very common and dangerous acts which urgently require development of a comprehensive prevention program. The importance of fight against alcohol abuse when driving is evidenced by the fact of attributing this act to criminal jurisdiction (beginning from 2014). The article describes in detail the experience of the states that have encountered this problem and the ways of its minimization that have been used. It discusses in detail the issues of restricting the owner's rights to use, own and dispose of the transport vehicle, as well as introduction of subsidiary administrative liability of the driver and the passengers, as provided for in Japan. Besides, it examines the issue of assigning a compulsory medical treatment for alcoholism to the drivers involved under Art. 264.1 of the RF Criminal Code. The article contains a detailed description of the preventive measures associated with the implementation of a broad anti-alcohol campaign for road safety (Uber companys experience, social advertising, etc.).

Вынужденная неопределенность норм уголовного права и (или) некорректное закрепление, толкование их признаков (на примере ст. 138.1 УК РФ)

Вынужденная неопределенность норм уголовного права и (или) некорректное закрепление, толкование их признаков (на примере ст. 138.1 УК РФ)

SPECIAL RULES OF MITIGATION OF PUNISHMENT IN CASE OF THE CONCLUSION OF THE PRE-TRIAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT, AT THE SPECIAL PROCEDURE OF FOR THE TRIAL AND AT THE SHORTENED ORDER OF INQUIRY

The subject. The article analyzes the rules for the appointment of punishment in the case of a pre-trial cooperation agreement, with a special procedure for the trial and with a shortened procedure of conducting inquiry, regulated by art. 62 of the RF Criminal Code “Turning out a Sentence when Mitigating Circumstances Exist”. The authors give an answer to two questions: 1) Does the legal nature of these institutions correspond to the legal nature of mitigating circumstances; 2) Is it advisable to consolidate in a one article of the law different legal regulations.Methodology. Authors use such researching methods as analysis and synthesis, formally legal, comparative legal.Results. Rules for the appointment of punishment in the conclusion of a pre-trial cooperation agreement, stipulated by the pt. 2, 4 of art. 62 of the RF Criminal Code, regulate not the order of accounting for mitigating circumstances, but the legal consequences associated with the promotion of a person, which concluded and executed a pre-trial cooperation agreement, that does not correspond to the legal nature of the pt. 1, 3 of art. 62 of the RF Criminal Code.The legal nature of the rules for the appointment of punishment, established in pt. 5 of art. 62 of the RF Criminal Code, also does not correspond to the legal nature of the rules for the imposition of punishment in the presence of mitigating circumstances, because mitigation of punishment occurs on criminal procedural grounds, which are not mitigating circumstances.Conclusions. In authors opinion, fastening in art. 62 of the RF Criminal Code of three independent rules for the imposition of punishment, namely, the rules for the imposition of punishment in the presence of mitigating circumstances (pt. 1, 3 of art. 62 of the Criminal Code), at the conclusion of a pre-trial cooperation agreement (pt. 2, 4 of art. 62 of the Crim-inal Code), with a special order of the trial and a shortened procedure for conducting an inquiry (pt. 5 of art. 62 of the Criminal Code) is unreasonable and inexpedient, because these rules have a different legal nature.Formalized limits of mitigation imposed at all parts of art. 62 of the Criminal Code of RF, are not connected with each other.Rules for the imposition of punishment in the conclusion of a pre-trial cooperation agreement, with a special procedure for the trial and a shortened procedure for conducting inquiry have to be deleted from art. 62 of RF Criminal code and have to be consolidated at separate articles of the Criminal Code.

ПРЕДМЕТ И ПРЕДЕЛЫ ДОКАЗЫВАНИЯ ПО УГОЛОВНЫМ ДЕЛАМ О НЕВЫПЛАТЕ ЗАРАБОТНОЙ ПЛАТЫ, ПЕНСИЙ, СТИПЕНДИЙ, ПОСОБИЙ И ИНЫХ ВЫПЛАТ

This article deals with the subject of the crime and the subject of proof in criminal cases of non-payment of wages, pensions, scholarships, allowances and other payments provided for in Art. 145.1 of the RF Criminal Code. The subject of the crime and the subject of proof do not coincide, in particular, in its content, the subject of a crime is already the subject of proof, the concepts referred to are correlated as part and whole. The subject and limits of proof in criminal cases on non-payment of wages, pensions, scholarships, allowances and other payments have been determined, as well as documents necessary for determining the subject of evidence and the limits of proof for this category of cases.

К вопросу о перспективах дальнейшего развития Главы 22 Уголовного кодекса Российской Федерации

К вопросу о перспективах дальнейшего развития Главы 22 Уголовного кодекса Российской Федерации

Commercial Bribery and Payoffs: Directions of Legislative Development

The article discusses the main stages of changes in the RF Criminal Code in the area of liability for commercial bribery and subornation in 2011, 2014 and 2016. The paper analyzes these changes and amendments with references to the Court's data concerning their efficiency. It has been shown that amendments made in the Criminal Code were based on the results of examination of the practice associated with sociological data, "linked" with the provisions of other federal laws. Thus, the duty of public and municipal officials to inform about incidents of instigating them to commit corruption offenses enshrined in Article 9 of the Federal Law № 273-FZ "On Counteracting Corruption" dated December 25, 2008 and supplemented by notes to Articles 291 and 291.1 of the RF Criminal Code concerning exemption from criminal liability only if they actively cooperated with investigating authorities formed the basis for motivating cooperation of persons who had committed offenses with law enforcement agencies in conducting investigating activities and inquiries in order to identify the bribe-giver, the bribe-taker and other persons involved in the crime. In 2015, 7453 public officials notified of the proposal to pay bribes (an increase of 14%, compared with 2014). As the result of these notifications, 3660 cases were filed (an increase of 27 %, compared with 2014), 2489 persons were brought to criminal liability (an increase of 22%, compared with 2014). Under the Federal Law of July 3, 2016 № 324-FZ "On amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation" two new crimes providing liability for "minor commercial bribery" and "minor subornation" (Articles 204.2 and 291.2 of the Criminal Code) have been included into the RF Criminal Code. Investigation of the crimes in question has been attributed to the powers of investigators. Thus, task groups and investigative bodies should be oriented to deal with counteracting high-risk cases of bribes at major scales, especially major scales, and bribes given by organized groups It was suggested that, in view of the provisions of anti-corruption conventions of the UN, OECD and GRECO, the RF CC can be supplemented by the rules concerning criminal 'iability for the promise and offering of commercial bribery and subornation On the basis of an analysis of the provisions of international anti-corruption conventions and anti-corruption laws of some states, it is proposed, that the promise of commercial bribe or subornation means the agreement between a bribe-giver and a bribe-taker concerning the transfer of a commercial bribe or subornation, and the offer of commercial bribery or subornation means intentional acts (or omissions) of a person directly aimed at implementing his or her intent to transfer the object of a commercial bribe or subornation, if the transfer was not actually effected for reasons beyond the control of the person

OTHER MEASURES OF CRIMINAL-LEGAL NATURE: DEFINITION, LEGAL NATURE, SYSTEM

УДК 343 The article is devoted to the analysis of the concept of the legal nature and the system of other measures of criminallegal nature, specified in the Criminal legislation of the Russian Federation and the problems of application of these measures in the judicial practice. The author pays attention to the fact that these measures are quite common in the judicial practice, especially conditional sentence. The legislator establishes three of other measures of criminal-legal nature in section VI of the RF Criminal Code: compulsory measures of a medical nature, confiscation of property and judicial penalty. But the author of the article aims to prove that the system of other measures of criminal-legal nature is not exhausted by these three measures. The article substantiates the statement that the measures in question constitute independent institute of criminal law. The author analyzes in details the concept and the legal nature of other measures of criminal-legal nature, their difference from punishment. Since the other measures of criminal-legal character are varied and specific, the author considers that it is difficult to formulate a general definition of such measures. The author distinguishes three approaches in the theory of criminal law on the question about the system of measures under consideration: "wide", "narrow" and "balanced approach." The author adheres to the "balanced approach" and justifies the statement that the organization of other measures of criminal-legal nature can only be based on their legal nature. This leads to the conclusion that conditional sentence, postponement of punishment, postponement of punishment for drug addicts, compulsory measures of educational influence, compulsory measures of medical nature connected with the execution of the sentence should be referred to other measures ofcriminal law. The author substantiates the view that the legislator's decision about systematization of measures considered in Section VI of the RF Criminal Code is inconsistent and illogical. According to the author, the confiscation of property should be provided in the criminal legislation not as other measure of criminal law, but as an additional kind of punishment. Judicial fine should be excluded from the Criminal Code. Because of their specificity and diversity it is hardly expedient to allocate all the other measures of criminal-legal nature in one section of the RF Criminal Code.

Complete and voluntary repentance: problems of structuring art. 75 of the criminal code of the Russian Federation

The article provides a critical analysis of Art. 75 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, two parts of which combine rules different in their legal purpose. It is proved that this Article establishes two types of exemption from criminal liability: actual and voluntary repentance applied in order of encouragement and concessions that lies in the basis of a compromise. Differentiation of these norms is based on the method of legal effect, the content of legal relationship, the type of criminal law effect, the content of legally significant circumstances and the functions of the criminal law. It is alleged that only the first part of Article 75 of the criminal code is referred to active repentance as a variety of a criminal-law encouragement. Part two of the Article establishes the rule that has a compromise rather than encouraging nature. To prove this conclusion the following arguments are given: no need to verify deserved post-crime behavior of a perpetrator while applying Paragraph 2 Article 75 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation; a forced nature of putting this norm in the criminal law that allows by means of concessions in the form of exemption from criminal responsibility prevent harmful consequences of committed crimes that cannot be eliminated in other ways; avoidance of the loss of public danger of an offender, etc. The author finds it inappropriate to harmonize Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 2 of Article 75 of the RF Criminal Code by means of transferring the active repentance norm from encouraging into compromise because this can result in excessive leniency of the criminal law. Based on systematization of research positions, as well as doctrinal interpretation of criminal law, comparative analysis of both parts of the criticized Article, the author offers to put Paragraph 2 of Article 75 of the Criminal Code beyond the active repentance, or even abandon its consolidation in the criminal law, as it duplicates the provisions of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Coercion as a Socially Dangerous Act

Coercion in criminal law is a sufficiently concise category with different legal incarnations in the law. The study highlights only one aspect of that is legislatively enshrined as a mandatory element of separate offenses. The starting point of the presented reasoning is that, under coercion, a person chooses a line of conduct seeking to avoid adverse and unfavorable consequences for himself or his loved ones, or he is largely deprived of an opportunity to choose a line of conduct. In other words, an offender committing as a crime is interested in the person's conduct rather than in his personality or property: an offender seeks to steer the former in the right direction. Coercion from the point of view of certain offenses covered by the Special Part of the RF Criminal Code is doctrinally considered either as a method of committing a crime or as a socially dangerous act. Following these assumptions, the author subjects to the analysis as it is presented in the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation primarily in terms of correctness of some forms of and the consequences for the legislative text, as well as in terms of acts criminality of which is excluded by certain elements. Based on the analysis of the objective side of offenses provided for in Art. 120,133,147,149,179,184, 240, 302, 309 and 333 of the RF Criminal Code the author concludes that coercion as a socially dangerous act is frequently used but unsuccessful in terms of the criminal law theory method of legislative technique. From this perspective, can only form a means of committing a crime rather than a socially dangerous act.

A System of Sexual Offenses (In the Context of an Explanatory Note to Article 131 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)

The purpose of the Paper is to analyze the current system of crimes against sexual freedom and sexual inviolability in the context of the Explanatory Note to Article 131 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The Explanatory Note contains Requirements to qualify dissolute acts (Para 2-4 of Article 135 of the RF Criminal Code), sexual intercourse and other acts of a sexual nature (Para 3-5 Article 134 of the RF Criminal Code) committed against persons under the age of twelve in accordance with Article 131(4)(b) or Article 132(4) as rape or sexual assault, i.e. the most dangerous sexual offenses, which gives rise to various assessments. The mere transformation of qualification of the acts in question is defined by the introduction of the so-called "age of absolutely unacceptable consent" of a person to engage in sexual intercourse or other sexual activity. In revealing the effects of the transformation, the author shows that now Chapter 18 of the RF Criminal Code contains two systems of crimes against minors, namely, a complete and truncated systems. The truncated system has been formed due to recognizing the sexual offenses committed against persons under the age of twelve as violent. This approach is far from being obvious. The second research issue is associated with the evaluation of normative grounds of compliance the provisions contained in the Explanatory Note with the provisions of Article 8 of the RF Criminal Code. The establishment of the grounds is complicated because the text of the Explanatory Note combines at least two Articles of Chapter 18 of the RF Criminal Code. It is necessary to evaluate the conformity of the characteristics of the act with the characteristics of an objective and subjective elements of non-violent sexual intercourse, certain acts of sexual nature or dissolute acts, i.e. any offense under Articles 134 or 135 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Then, on the ground of the victim's helpless condition it is possible to qualify the act under Article 131(4)(b) of the RF Criminal Code or Article 132(4)(b) of the RF Criminal Code. The issues of qualification are being dealt with in the light of Recommendations determined in the Decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of December 4, 2014, № 16 "On Court practice in cases involving crimes against sexual integrity and sexual freedom of the individual» that did not, however, deal with some complicated cases. Lack of recommendations is particularly obvious concerning the qualification of dissolute acts committed against persons under the age of twelve in accordance with Article 132 of the RF Criminal Code.