Today, over 640 thousand prisoners are kept in Russian colonies. Of these, about 40% are repeat offenders - those people who committed the same crime for which they were already serving time.
Relapse of crimes is a problem not only of Russia, but of the whole world. Specialists are asking how to exclude the pathological behavior of former prisoners in order to prevent them from committing a second crime (according to Article 43 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
Story
The formation of such a concept has a long history. For the first time, increased liability for multiple crimes of the same type was provided for in the 1922 Criminal Code in the USSR. However, in the future, attention to such a concept as a relapse of crimes was weakened, since the government forbade talking about it out loud: it was believed that there could be no relapse in such a powerful state.
In 1958, this concept reappeared in the Criminal Code, and further offenses were considered based on the absence or presence of relapse.
Multiple crimes
Relapse belongs to the category of multiple crimes, but should not be confused with sets of sentences or crimes.
By totality of crimes (Article 69) may be sentenced based on the number of acts for which the accused has not been previously convicted. In this case, crimes should be provided for in several articles, and not one.
The aggregate of sentences (Article 70) implies punishment for an act committed in conjunction with another crime, for which there is already a sentence, and the convicted person is still serving a term in a colony in the first case or has a suspended sentence.
Accordingly, a relapse of crimes is a repeated crime of the same kind with the previous one. Moreover, it does not matter when it was committed - at the time of serving the sentence or after it. The main factor in the appointment is the outstanding criminal record.
Relapse Classification
Typically, persons convicted under article 18 are sent to serve their sentences in a strict and general security colony. It all depends on how dangerous this relapse is.
The Criminal Code has a classification of repeated crimes:
- Simple relapse - a citizen violated the law under a similar article for the second time without aggravating circumstances.
- Dangerous relapse of crimes - a person has committed a serious crime, while having an outstanding conviction (real term) for less serious under the same article or one term for a serious crime.
- Particularly dangerous - the offender has a criminal record for the commission of two serious crimes.
Crime Categories
The imposition of punishment for a relapse of crimes implies the concept of the gravity of the crimes. Categories are discussed in article 15 of the Criminal Code, which defines in detail:
- Minor crimes - those that are committed intentionally or through negligence, but for which imprisonment is not more than three years.
- Medium crimes - intentional acts for which a punishment of not more than five years of imprisonment is prescribed; or careless, punishing more than three years in prison.
- Serious crimes are those for which the maximum sentence is imposed for a period not exceeding ten years.
- Particularly serious crimes are crimes of a deliberate nature, punishment for which is provided for a period of more than 10 years. Particularly serious acts include crimes that infringe on life, for which life imprisonment for a period of 25 years or the death penalty (Article 59).
According to this list, in one article there may be several categories of crime. For example, in article 127.1 (human trafficking) in parts 1 and 2 - a serious crime, in part 3 - a particularly serious one.
Repeat offense
The punishment for a relapse of the crime, as a rule, is more severe than for the usual intentional one, since relapse is an aggravating circumstance for any offense.
The exact terms depend on which article the act was committed. At the same time, the maximum period cannot be less than one third of the most severe punishment provided for by the Criminal Code under this article.
If there are extenuating circumstances in the case, the period may be less than one third, but within the limits of the article under which the crime is considered.
Arbitrage practice
In order to fully disclose the concept of relapse, it is necessary to consider an example from judicial practice.
Convicted by article 162 (part 1) for a term of 5 years he served his sentence in a maximum security colony, since robbery is a serious crime. After 7 years, the criminal record of such a person must be extinguished. In this case, the person is deemed not convicted. If he committed similar crimes during this period, for example, provided for in Article 162 (regardless of the part), a relapse of the crimes takes place. The accused may be sentenced to a term of at least 3 years (subject to Article 68 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
Extenuating circumstances
Sentencing for recidivism can be carried out taking into account extenuating circumstances provided for in the article in accordance with which the act was committed, or under article 61. In this case, real deprivation of liberty may be less than one third of the term provided for in the article.
Mitigating circumstances may include the following:
- Pregnancy of the accused.
- Availability of dependent children.
- A crime resulting from exceeding the necessary defense.
- An act committed for the first time in a coincidence.
- Confession, voluntary assistance to the investigation.
- Providing assistance to the victim immediately after the commission of the crime.
- Coercion to commit a crime.
- The behavior of the victim, which led to the commission of the crime.
If extenuating circumstances are already provided for by the relevant article, they cannot be applied separately.
Conclusion
Thus, the relapse of crimes of the Criminal Code is considered as aggravating circumstance and is taken into account in sentencing almost in the first place. However, the imposition of a stricter punishment does not entail the correction of the convicted person, but, on the contrary, makes it possible to develop in a criminal direction within the walls of a correctional colony. Unfortunately, this is evidenced by statistics, and there are only more recidivists in the country every year. Although, according to the same statistics, the first convicts became much less.
Among criminals repeatedly committing illegal acts, there are 3 times fewer women than men, but many people without secondary or vocational education.
In Russia, about 70% of criminals become repeat offenders, therefore changes in the Criminal Code should primarily relate to qualifying signs and specifics of sentencing for repeated crimes.
