Theft and robbery are, as you know, crimes. Many people wonder if they are synonyms, close or, conversely, distant concepts. We devote this material to the answer to this urgent question: "How is robbery different from theft?"
The definition of robbery
Robbery is the open theft of another's property. That is how it is characterized by Art. 161, part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. This is the abduction of another's property, which is completely without violence against the victim or with violence of a kind that is not dangerous to health and life.
In many countries, robbery is not considered an independent crime, but is a component of robbery or theft.
Under the article "Robbery" of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, this act is considered completed if the property was nevertheless seized from the victim and the robber acquired a real opportunity to use or dispose of someone else's property.
Robbery and Criminal Code
Criminal law emphasizes that robbery is always committed intentionally, which is why it cannot be a crime committed through negligence.
Pay attention also to the fact that Art. 161 (Part 1) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation refers to an open theft of someone else’s property as an act committed in the presence of the owner of the property or bystanders, and the person who personifies it knows that others are aware of the wrongfulness of his act, regardless of whether they tried to stop it crime or did not do it.
The article "Robbery" of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation tells about the following:
- Crime subject: movable property.
- Object: ownership.
- Subject: sane citizen who has reached the age of 14.
- Subjective side: guilt represented by direct intent with selfish ends.
- The objective side: open theft of property (act), causing material damage to the owner (consequence) and causal relationship between them.
The following qualified compounds are also distinguished:
- In a particularly large volume.
- In a large volume.
- Organized by a gang.
- According to a preliminary plan with penetration into the room.
- With unlawful entry into a store, home or other premises.
- With the use of violence, rated as harmless to the victim.
The Punishment of Robbery
Understanding how robbery differs from theft will also help familiarity with the punishability of these types of crimes. So, the penalties for robbery under the Criminal Code:
- Robbery robbery:
- Prison until 4 years.
- Conditional period for 2-4 years.
- Arrest for 4-12 months.
- Mandatory type of work - 180-240 hours.
- Correctional labor lasting 1-2 years.
- Robbery by agreement, with illegal entry, in especially large volumes, with the use of violence:
- Prison for 2-7 years.
- Conditional period up to 1 year.
- A fine of up to 10 thousand rubles.
Robbery by an organized group of persons, in large quantities: - Prison for 6-12 years.
- A suspended sentence of 2 years (after prison sentence).
- Penalties up to 1 million rubles.
- Fine in the total profit of the offender for 5 years.
In this context, a large amount of robbery - more than 250 thousand rubles., And especially large volumes - more than 1 million rubles. These sizes are prescribed in Art. 158 and 161 of the Criminal Code.
Theft: Definition
Theft is called the secret theft of another's property. It is different from robbery, embezzlement, fraud, robbery. Article of the Criminal Code - 158. This type of theft is also considered to be when a person only hopes that he is operating secretly, while objectively his actions are completely open.
Theft in a store or other room, space has the following symptoms:
- Neither the owner of the property, nor third parties were aware that the property was stolen.
- During the theft, witnesses were those persons from whom the offender does not expect a suppression of his actions.
- Those present at the theft could not know about the unlawful actions of the criminal.
In the philistine vocabulary, theft is a synonym for theft.
The theft is considered completed at the moment when the stolen property was seized by the thief, and he had the opportunity to dispose of it in his interests. If he could not realize the latter, theft will still be considered theft.
Theft and Criminal Code
Theft in a store or other room will be dismantled by the Criminal Code in the following form:
- Object: his attitude to the subject of theft, as well as a certain belonging to the stolen property.
- Objective: non-violent covert seizure of non-thief property.
- Subjective side: guilt indicated by direct intent with selfish intentions.
Qualified groups differ in terms of art. 158 of the Criminal Code:
- Part 2:
- Committed by a group of criminals by prior conspiracy (2 or more people).
- Illegal (open or secret) invasion of the victim’s home or other personal premises. The purpose of the theft in this case is initial before the fact of the invasion.
- With causing significant damage to the victim - an equivalent amount of not less than 2.5 thousand rubles.
- Theft was made from clothes, a backpack, a handbag or other hand luggage, which was with the injured person.
- Part 3:
- In a large volume.
- With penetration into the home.
- From a gas pipeline, oil product pipeline, oil pipeline.
- Part 4:
- Particularly large volume.
- Organized group.
Theft Punishment
We have analyzed the concept and signs of theft. It differs from robbery by the terms of punishment:
- Theft without aggravating circumstances:
- Mandatory work lasting up to 180 hours.
- Arrest for 2-4 months.
- Conditional period up to 2 years.
- Penalties up to 80 thousand rubles.
- Fine in the amount of salary of the convicted person for the amount of 6 months.
- Correctional labor up to 1 year.
Aggravated Theft: - Prison up to 5 years.
- Mandatory work up to 10 days.
- Correctional labor up to 2 years.
- Penalties up to 200 thousand rubles.
- A fine in the amount of the salary of the offender in the amount of 18 months.
- Additional restriction of freedom up to 1 year after the term spent in prison.
- Prison for 5-10 years.
- Conditional period up to 2 years.
- Penalties of up to 1 million rubles per perpetrator.
- Prison for 2-6 years.
- A fine of 100-500 thousand rubles.
- A fine equal to the amount of the criminal's income for 1.5 years.
Comparison of theft and robbery
As we see, robbery differs from theft in the way of taking possession of property driven by property. Robbery is an open, explicit abduction, and theft is secret. At the same time, even if the offender only believed that he was acting secretly, but in fact, his actions were open to witnesses, he will be judged anyway precisely for theft. But if a citizen knew that his actions were clearly visible from the outside, and especially if third parties wanted to stop his act, but he stubbornly achieved what was planned, this would already be a robbery.
The estimated value of the stolen is also important. Criminal punishment for theft occurs only if it is committed in large volume (more than 2.5 thousand rubles under Art. 158 of criminal law). And robbery, no matter how successful or unsuccessful for the robber, he will always be only criminally punished.
Key differences
Robbery differs from theft in the following:
- Punishment. The most severe criminal punishment for theft is 10 years in prison, and for robbery - up to 12 years in prison.
- Circumstances. Robbery can be characterized by the use of violence that is not harmful to the health and life of the victim. But theft - nothing. If the offender was caught at the scene of his atrocity, and he continued to hold the stolen, his actions will already be regarded as theft.
- Intent. The person committing theft, directs a lot of his strength to go unnoticed.If, despite all his precautions, he was nevertheless accidentally or intentionally caught witnessing a crime, the actions of this citizen would still be regarded as a theft. The robber does not initially seek to hide, hide, he performs his act without fear, openly, which makes him more dangerous.
- Amount stolen. As we have already said, theft of property worth up to 2.5 thousand rubles. not considered criminally punishable. There is no such bar for robbery - it is prosecuted only under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
So we figured out how robbery differs from theft. The common thing with these crimes is that they are both theft of property. However, theft is a hidden secret atrocity, and robbery, on the contrary, is open. It is also important not to confuse these concepts with fraud, embezzlement, robbery.