Many are interested in questions about what is an attempt on a crime, how a person’s actions are interpreted as the initial stage of a crime. When a person commits some illegal action, he goes on it consciously (with the exception of those that occur by negligence and in a state of affect). However, it is not always possible to bring things to a logical conclusion; everything is decided by the case. That is why in the judicial practice of many countries, including the Russian Federation, there is such a thing as an attempted crime.
Definition
There is a different interpretation of this concept in the criminal law of different countries. But the essence of the attempted crime is the same - this is an evil act that was not brought to the end for reasons beyond the control of the criminal.
To illustrate the meaning of this concept, we give an example. The former cohabitant stole a large sum of money from N. and fled. Due to the theft, N. received a moral injury (a deceived man), which adversely affected his business. In the flame of righteous anger N. penetrates the apartment of the former cohabitant with a weapon in order to kill her. However, he is stopped by a huge dog of a woman. She calls the police, which detains the failed killer.
In this example, there is an attempt on murder (crime):
- motive;
- act;
- weapons;
- unforeseen circumstance (in the form of a dog).
As you can see, all the components are present. Therefore, the grievous criminal is charged with an attempt on a crime related to the deprivation of life of a former cohabitant.
The nuances of the law
If the letter of the law is applied in practice, we are faced with a certain subjectivity in the classification of crime. It is associated with the emotional sphere and human intellect. Let us return to our example: why the attempt? Why didn’t N. shoot the dog and complete the evil act?
In practice, the defense seeks to prove that the intentions of the offender were different, not at all criminal. Returning to our example, N. could penetrate the former cohabitant’s housing to talk to her, and not to kill. Proof - he did not shoot the dog, although he could. A weapon? There is official permission to carry a firearm for self-defense. In general, a woman should be considered a criminal; according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, her actions can be classified as theft, moreover, completed. This technique is called shifting responsibility or mitigating punishment. According to this logic, the maximum that N. can be incriminated is illegal entry into someone else’s housing.
Sometimes lawyers manage to fully justify their client, and a failed criminal has the opportunity to repeat the crime.
Kinds
The apparent emotional and personal color inherent in this crime, as well as the intervention of unforeseen circumstances, allow us to divide a failed crime into the following types:
- unfinished;
- finished;
- unsuitable.
An unfinished attempt on a crime is an act in which the offender was unable to complete the case. Also, it can include inaction of the person, which could lead to sad consequences.
It is customary to consider a crime (according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) such a crime when the offender himself believes that he did everything to commit his crime.
Many legalists consider this interpretation unfounded, since the subjective opinion of the criminal himself is taken into account. Even a conclusion psychiatric examination about the full sanity of the attacker does not exclude the subjectivity of the perception of the situation by the person himself. In our example, where N. was preparing an attempted murder, his actions can be interpreted as completed or unfinished at the same time, depending on his testimony.
That is why some experts offer to interpret the completed assassination attempt as a combination of circumstances and actions, which really was enough to cause harm. This method is called objective.
Types of attempted crime also include the useless. This paragraph is incriminated to the guilty person if for the commission of the crime he used the means that were knowingly unsuitable for causing harm. For example, if in our example N. took a toy gun.
Unsuccessful attempt also implies criminal liability. An exception is cases when the means for a crime are not serious at all (a plastic knife or a training grenade, for example) and, in principle, cannot cause real harm. For example, they can be classified as a desire to joke, which even a novice lawyer can easily prove.
Intent
How to identify attempted crime? The Criminal Code interprets this offense as an act exclusively with direct intent. From a subjective point of view, the incompletion of a crime is impossible, if initially there was no motive and intent.
However, in order to prove the intention itself and, accordingly, the attempted atrocity, it is necessary to have sufficient evidence and evidence of the offender himself. After all, it is quite possible to alleviate the punishment and even to avoid it (and the legislation gives the go-ahead) if we classify the attempt as preparation for a crime.
Cooking and Assassination
At first glance, the preparation and attempted crime are no different. However, the criminal law of the Russian Federation divides these two offenses depending on the stage at which the offender was forced to complete his actions.
Preparation for a crime begins at the stage of motive and plan and ends with the moment the commencement of a set of actions that should lead to a crime begins.
The attempt begins from the moment of the first action and ends at any stage:
- insufficient to cause real harm (unfinished attempt);
- enough to cause real harm (complete assassination attempt);
- due to the fact that the tools or a set of actions chosen by the attacker can not objectively harm the victim (unsuccessful attempt).
What does the law say?
An attempt, not just a crime, is punishable. After all, the attacker had a motive, a desire and committed a number of actions aimed at the realization of his intent. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contains chapter 6, which spells out all the moments of this atrocity and defines the very concept of “attempted crime”. The punishment for him is provided for quite real.
All the nuances are spelled out in Articles 29, 30, 31 of Chapter 6 of the Criminal Code. "Unfinished crime." Also, many theorists and practitioners of criminal law wrote works on this subject - A.V. Naumov, A.I. Rarog, L.V. Inogamova-Khegai, V.V. Luneev and others. Lawyers in the course of the proceedings rely on interpretations of concepts given in the works of the above authors, however, the final verdict is passed by the judge on the basis of the prosecutor’s charge (or as amended by the lawyer) according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
A responsibility
This act is criminal in nature, for it is impossible without intent (as the traditional criminal law says). The punishment for attempted crime is provided for by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, namely, Art. 30. It is possible in the case of preparation for a serious or especially serious crime, and if the fact of preparation is proved.
As for the preventive measure, article 30 of the Criminal Code does not say anything about specific timelines for specific actions.As a rule, the punishment is no more than three quarters of the punishment for the fait accompli of a similar crime.
Minimization of liability
The lawyer can obtain an acquittal for the defendant on the basis of article 31, which provides for the voluntary refusal of a failed (in this case, such an interpretation is adopted) crime.
To make it clearer, we recall our example. N. can prove that he changed his mind as soon as he entered the apartment of the former roommate. Perhaps he wanted to shoot her, however, entering the house so familiar to him, breathing in the smell of his beloved woman, he decided to just talk to her. And his plans were upset by the attack of the dog.
There is simply no other evidence that N. wished to kill the victim, and his intention remained so until his arrest by the police. Yes, there is a motive. Yes, the actions of the failed victim are enough to cause a strong desire to kill her, but the detainee says that he abandoned the idea of taking the life of his former lover. No one is able to prove the opposite.
Objectively, the woman was not harmed. The maximum that he can be charged with (and this is provided for in Article 31) is the commission of another crime - in our case, illegal entry into the victim’s house. This is provided for in paragraph 3.
The severity of the attempted crime
Attempted life in criminal law is considered one of the serious crimes. Therefore, if the court has proved a direct attempt to kill a victim by an attacker, he will have to bear three quarters of the punishment for his crime.
Imprisonment for life is the maximum punishment for murder. This measure, like the death penalty (in the countries where it is used), is not used to punish attempted murders. The term that a criminal can get can be calculated based on the maximum sentence for the first such crime (15 years). This means that in the most unfavorable outcome of the case, with all the evidence in the attempt upon the life of the victim, the attacker can get up to 12 years (such cases were in the practice of Russian law). How humane this is is for everyone to judge.
How objective is criminal law?
The subjectivism inherent from the beginning to the end of the practical interpretation of this crime does not provide an opportunity to unequivocally give an answer to the question of what should be considered an attempt on a crime, how objective is the evidence base and the punishment for the crime. In the history of modern criminal law, there have been cases of imprisonment of more than ten years for attempted crime and acquittal for similar atrocity.
Conclusion
The criminal legislation of our country is still too imperfect to unambiguously and objectively classify such a subjective in nature concept as attempted crime. In the outcome of such cases, it all depends on the evidence base and professionalism of the defender.
