Infliction of grievous bodily harm (Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)

The infliction of grievous bodily harm on the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is regarded as a criminal act committed intentionally or carried out through negligence (excess of self-defense, state of mental disorder).

Criminal prosecution of crimes

To qualify serious injury to health of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation allows according to the circumstances of the incident:

• Serious damage to a physical condition inflicted intentionally is prosecuted by the norm 111.
• The infliction of moderate and serious bodily harm at the time of mental inhibition is classified by norm 113.
• Damage to health when exceeding the limits required by the circumstances of self-defense or measures to apprehend criminals (article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation 114).
• Unintentional infliction of grievous bodily harm (article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation 118).

Subject of act

The composition of the criminal act entailing infliction of grievous bodily harm, articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are characterized as follows:

• Mandatory intent.
• Damage to health is assessed by the degree of harm to the life of a citizen. Causing harm cannot be confused with an attempt on the life of a citizen. The latter is committed purposefully. Serious harm implies intent only indirectly on the basis of further death, and in view of the fact that it did not happen, the crime is punished. Intentional harm to a physical condition can lead to death, then if there is an indirect intent, the crime is considered as a murder. Upon confirmation of the intentional prosecution of death during the infliction of harm, the deed is considered either as murder or as attempted murder.
• The subject of the act is a capable citizen who has reached the age of fourteen.

Special severity

The object of a crime is the health of a citizen in case of intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation damage of special gravity is divided into:

• The bodily, life-threatening injuries of a citizen, threatening him both at the time of their application and in the future if they can lead to the death of a person. For example, injuries to the head, spine, open bone fractures, vascular damage, burns more than thirty percent of the surface of the body. These injuries pose a threat to life. There are injuries causing the development of a life-threatening condition.
• Loss of function or loss of any organ by a person. For example, the loss of a limb (arms, legs), its separation from the body by a person, injuries of the genitals, accompanied by the loss of the ability to reproduce and procreate.
• Functional inoperability of the organs of perception of the world. Loss of speech is characterized by the loss of the ability to speak with sounds understood by other people. Loss of vision means complete inoperable blindness or lowering a person’s vision to four hundredths. Hearing impairment of hearing means deafness or such an inoperable condition when the victim cannot hear the speech of other interlocutors at a certain distance from his auricle. Serious damage to health includes loss of vision in one eye and hearing loss in one ear. This is considered the loss by an organ of its vital functions. Loss of the eye is considered a loss of the organ of vision, and the loss of a dysfunctional eye is estimated based on the duration of a person’s poor condition. When determining harm, improvements in vision or hearing after possible operations are not taken into account.
• Termination of a woman’s pregnancy, regardless of her term, if it is caused by a criminal act. It is important to establish that the perpetrator was aware that the victim was expecting a child.
• Distortion of facial expression, which gives the victim a repulsive appearance. In order to classify wounds and injuries as harm of special gravity, it is necessary to establish the impossibility of changing the damage to the face. The issue of change is decided by the plastic surgeon. If a cosmetic operation is necessary to eliminate these distortions, a facial injury is considered indelible. The problem with disfigurement is solved in a judicial proceeding on the basis of generally accepted notions of normal appearance.
• Mental disorder or the development of drug addiction. An assessment of the severity of the damage to the physical condition is given by a forensic expert with the participation of a psychiatrist and narcologist.

Disability

Damage to health under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation can cause a loss of ability to work. According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, punitive types of damage to a physical condition of special gravity include the absolute loss of ability to work professionally, that is, the citizen’s ability to fulfill the scope and quality of professional work specified by the employer.

Complete loss is established when the victim, as a result of severe functional disorders of the body, has found one hundred percent medical evidence for the impossibility of performing all types of work. It is considered severe to cause damage to a physical condition that caused a permanent loss of labor ability by more than thirty percent.

When determining the amount of persistent damage, the expert uses a table of percent of loss of ability to work due to serious harm to health. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the possibility of losing the general ability to work promises to be not only significant, but also persistent. Loss of labor ability is considered persistent either at the final outcome, or when the duration of a poor physical condition is more than one hundred and twenty days.

Intentional harm

The current version of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation punishes grievous bodily harm as follows:

Features of qualification of intentional harm

The legal consequences for the intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are differentiated by qualifying circumstances:

• Bullying as a way of causing harm to health is considered to be criminal acts that cause mental and physical pain by prolonged deprivation of food, drink or heat, or placing a citizen in conditions dangerous to his physical condition, or other similar actions. Bullying is considered a case of gross insulting a person’s dignity (permanent insults, humiliations).
• The greatest danger to society and, at the same time, the complexity in terms of the application of law is represented by the species that entailed the carelessness of the victim. In certain cases, a criminal act may be regarded as murder. The distinction here should be made on the legal side of the act. If the perpetrator did not have a desire to inflict grievous bodily harm or, in principle, to inflict damage on his physical condition, criminal penalties are not applied according to this norm.
• In a murder, the intent of the offender is aimed at depriving a person of his life, and in the case of the criminal act provided for in the fourth part of this article, the intent of the offender to leave the life of a person is expressed in negligence.
• The acts described in the first and second parts of this rule are considered serious crimes, and especially serious described in the third and fourth parts.

Accidental Damage

The negligent infliction of grievous bodily harm to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation pursues under Art. 118 as follows.

Features of qualification of careless harm

The liability for negligent grievous bodily harm to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation qualifies the circumstances of the commission of the criminal act:

• The corpus delicti consists in the careless form of the guilty person’s guilt: frivolity or negligence of committed or imperfect acts.
• In matters where a special rule that warns against danger is not complied with, a special rule of law is applied. In the event of grievous bodily harm during an accident in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 264 is considered.
• The introduction as a circumstance of a crime of improper performance or non-performance by a professional person of his duties as a cause of harm to health is dictated by the frequency of such incidents. Damage is caused in the area and by a professional person called upon to ensure the safety of citizens. It is assumed that the subject of the criminal act is the executor of duties (doctor, swimming instructor, medical worker, physical education teacher).
• The crime provided for by the first and second part 118 of the code is considered a minor offense.

Excess Self Defense

Causing damage to a physical condition when going beyond the limits of the required defense of an individual or exceeding the measures taken to apprehend criminals are qualified according to Art. 114.

Features of self-defense qualifications

Responsibility for inflicting grievous bodily harm as a result of self-defense is an article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation determined by the circumstances of the criminal incident:

• The object of a criminal act is the health of a citizen.
• The nature of the consequences in case of exceeding the defense is considered to be causing special harm, and with an excessive increase in self-defense measures - causing serious harm to health.
• The Criminal Code does not provide for punishment for exceeding the limits of the required defense. Punishment occurs in the event of excessive measures to eliminate criminals, involving the threat of grievous bodily harm.
• The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation defines the composition of a criminal act as the intent of the guilty person (direct or indirect).
• The acts specified in the first and second parts of the norm relate to a group of crimes of minor gravity.

State of insanity

Of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, inflicting moderate and serious harm to health, done in a state of intense excitement (affect), punishes a period of up to two years:

• correctional or forced labor,
• restriction or imprisonment.

The state of affect can be caused by:

• constant violent acts of a mocking nature, offensive acts on the part of the victim;
• unlawful actions against the perpetrator;
• prolonged traumatic psyche of the perpetrator of the situation that arose in connection with the regular unlawful behavior of the person.

Qualification of insanity

An article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation determines the criminal punishment for inflicting damage to health in a state of mental disequilibrium:

• The object of the crime is the health of a citizen.
• The consequences are harm to health.
• The punishment of the Criminal Code requires intent.
• The act refers to offenses of minor gravity.