Criminal law takes place only if a person commits a socially dangerous act. When offenses of a different nature, not criminal, occur, then this is the scope of the laws of other branches of law. Thus, criminal law applies when a crime is committed. But in practice, many problems often arise during the qualification of certain socially dangerous acts. For example, a person did not complete his plan.
The question arises: "What to do with incomplete crimes?" The legislation of many countries clearly regulates all possible types of crimes that are not brought to an end, as well as measures that apply to their subjects. In the article below, we will be based on the legislative acts of the Russian Federation in order to more thoroughly understand the essence, structure and types of crimes that are not brought to an end.
Crime: concept
At its core, a crime, regardless of whether it is over or not, is an offense. The person committing it shows her unwillingness to adhere to the rules established by the norms of legislation. The problem is that a crime is a socially dangerous act, it harms the legal climate of the state much more seriously than violations of an administrative or civil sphere. Criminal sanctions are applied to the person who committed the crime. Socially dangerous acts have features, namely:
- Criminal act - volitional behavioral act of a person, which is characterized by action or inaction. A person harms social relations by committing criminal acts that change the legal order formed on the basis of legislation. The criminal legislation of the Russian Federation does not condemn thoughts of a crime or statements. The real threat can only be from actual human actions.
- Public danger. The bottom line is that a person harms personal, state, social interests. First of all, the acts of the criminal harm the legal relations, which, in turn, are protected by law. In other words, the perpetrator destroys established social rules.
- Guilty person for committing a crime. A person is always personally responsible for the actions that she performed. Guilt can manifest itself in intentional or reckless actions.
- Wrongfulness consists of two elements: the prohibition of a certain series of acts and the threat of punishment for them.
It follows that any crime will meet the above requirements, regardless of whether the offender completed it or not. The difference between completed and unfinished crimes depends on the composition and degree of their implementation, which will be discussed later.
The concept of unfinished crime
A crime always consists of certain stages, at each of which a person carries out one of the components of the objective side. According to article 29 of the Criminal Code, a crime is completed if it contains absolutely all the necessary elements of the composition. That is, it has not only been brought to its intended end, but also certain negative consequences have come, which can be of either a property or non-property nature. 
It follows that the unfinished crime – it is an act that was completed before the onset of adverse effects. The completeness of the composition can be characterized by the stage at which the crime was completed. An unfinished crime will take place when it is interrupted at any stage until completion, and the adverse consequences did not occur.
The stages of the crime
It was previously indicated that the crime is considered unfinished if it was stopped at one of the stages. Thus, any crime specified in a special part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation may be unfinished. In this case, we do not take into account those that are considered completed since the commission of a socially dangerous act (illegal possession of weapons). Qualification of an unfinished crime is carried out by determining the stage of implementation of the objective side. There are only three main stages:
- cooking
- attempt;
- complete crime.
In this case, we are not interested in the stage of the completed crime, because the attacker actually performed the desired socially dangerous act. In order to understand in more detail what a complete and unfinished crime is, you need to consider the stages separately, because each of them has its own special characterizing aspects. The punishment can vary significantly depending on the stage at which the crime was stopped.
Crime preparation
Preparation can be considered actions of a person aimed at providing or creating favorable conditions for the further implementation of the plan. During preparation, the person provides the future act of commission, practically realizes her criminal plan. A characteristic feature of this stage is that there is no actual damage to certain public relations, therefore, not all actions during preparation can be distinguished as socially dangerous.
The preparation stage may include the following elements: the search for the necessary funds, conspiracy to commit a crime, the manufacture or change of funds. An unfinished crime will take place if, at the stage of preparation, the person was not able to bring the planned actions to the end for reasons beyond her control. As regards sentencing, criminal liability comes only in case of preparation for especially grave and grave crimes.
Cooking elements
The process of preparing for a crime can be divided into several types that can take place during the implementation of this stage of a socially dangerous act.
- Search for the necessary funds - actions aimed at obtaining a tool or means to carry out a crime. However, the legislator is not interested in the method of acquiring funds (legal or illegal).
- The manufacture or change of means is manifested in those actions when a person substantially changes the quality of objects for the further commission of a crime or creates new means in a legal or illegal way.
- Collusion for the purpose of committing a crime is manifested in the case when a person gives his consent to such an act. The role of accomplice is completely unimportant, because all those who made the preparation will bear the same criminal responsibility.
Attempted crime
Unfinished crime shall be recognized as acts stopped at the stage of attempt. In general, an attempt is an activity of a person aimed at the direct implementation of the objective side of a crime.
Moreover, the act is not brought to an end due to reasons that are not dependent on the will of the subject.
Attempting a crime is itself a crime, regardless of gravity. Qualification of unfinished crimes will depend on the type of attempt. Each species is characterized by the degree of implementation of the intent.
Types of Attempts
In the theory of criminal law, two types of attempt are distinguished: finished and unfinished. An attempt is considered completed if the person performs all the necessary actions, but the criminal result does not occur for reasons beyond her control. With unfinished person does not perform all necessary actions for reasons that are in no way dependent on her.
In the case of an assassination attempt, a person can be held criminally liable, since there may be a completed and unfinished crime. For example, a person illegally stores weapons (a finished crime) for killing a person. During the attempt she was detained. Thus, a person can be held accountable for illegal possession, as well as attempted murder.
Unsuccessful attempt
Unfinished crime and its types - this is a whole body of knowledge in the theory of criminal law. To date, scientists still highlight some facts that are truly innovative. The unsuccessful type of attempt was discovered recently. The bottom line is that the offender deliberately incorrectly defines the person (object) of his crime. In other words, an error occurs in which an attempt is made on the wrong person. In this case, responsibility will still be, except when the offender uses funds that are incapable of causing any harm.
Assignment of punishment for an unfinished crime
Unfinished crimes pose a threat to public relations lower than finished ones. Nevertheless, such socially dangerous acts cannot be ignored. They must be condemned by the state. The legislator described in detail the order on the basis of which the sentencing for an unfinished crime takes place.
According to article 66 The Criminal Code, the circumstances in which the crime was stopped, are taken into account. For preparation for a crime, the punishment may not exceed half the maximum term, as well as the size of the most severe punishment, provided for by the sanction of the article of the Special Part of the Criminal Code. For an attempted crime, the term of imprisonment shall not exceed three quarters of the maximum term, as well as the size of the most severe punishment. Thus, the legislator regulates the procedure for conviction for an unfinished crime, taking into account its lower social danger, in comparison with the completed crime.
Voluntary refusal to further commit a crime
Very often, even in academia, the unfinished crime and the voluntary refusal to further commit it are confused. In case of voluntary refusal, the person consciously rejects the possibility of committing a crime, she can bring the plan to the end, but does not want to do this. The subject completely refuses any criminal activity, which significantly distinguishes a voluntary refusal from an unfinished crime, in which a person performs part of the objective side. The concept of a completed and an unfinished crime contains two characteristic features: intent and danger to public relations. In the case of a voluntary refusal, the person refuses the crime and from her intent. When unfinished, she is detained or stopped in other ways that are independent of her will.
Conclusion
So, the article gave the concept and types of unfinished crime. And also considered the possible penalties that may be assigned for them. An unfinished crime poses a significant threat to public relations, therefore, the legislator must constantly develop new legal structures so that such acts are suppressed.
