Even the most perfect system of the execution of punishment cannot be insured against the phenomenon that we will present in detail in this material. This is a relapse of crime and its types. We will not touch on the moral, general philosophical side of the question - why does this happen, what moves the attacker, what is lacking in the correctional system to prevent such facts. Consider the "technical" side - the interpretation of the term, types of phenomena, representation in Russian and international criminal law.
Concept in a general sense
Well, we start with the concept, signs and types of relapse. The origins of the word are in lat. recidivus - "starting over", "renewing."
Relapse in the general sense is a re-manifestation of a phenomenon. To a greater extent, the concept is used in relation to something negative.
Recall that the term is widely used in medicine. In this area, relapse is the return of a disease that occurs after an imaginary, seemingly complete recovery.
Concept in Russian criminal law
Criminal law defines how a subject commits a new crime after being convicted of past atrocities. The criminal record in this case has not yet been withdrawn and not paid off in the manner prescribed by law. As a rule, the punishment for a second crime is always imposed more stringent, tough, measures in relation to the offender are more strengthened.
Considering the relapse of crimes and its types, we will give a simpler criminal definition. This is the commission by a person who already has a criminal record of a new crime. Such a citizen, by the way, is considered a recidivist (not to be confused with the name of the novel of the same name by Kurt Vonnegut, published in 1979).
The term in the criminal law of the states of the world
Information about what a relapse of a crime (its types) contains the criminal laws of many countries. Let's look at specific examples:
- Criminal law in Spain. Here, in the chapter “Circumstances that aggravate criminal liability”, relapse is defined as a phenomenon that occurs after a guilty crime of the same nature (that is, provided for in the same section of the Criminal Code of Spain) for which he was already convicted of a state criminal legislation. And an important point. If the criminal record for such a crime was withdrawn, then this eliminates the fact of relapse.
- Similar definitions to the Russian one contain the Criminal Codes of the former Soviet republics - Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, etc.
- And if the relapse of the crime and its types are not mentioned in the Criminal Code of the state? Consider such examples. A phenomenon similar in its characteristics to relapse will still be taken into account when sentencing. Let us turn to the federal laws of the United States and most of the states of the state. The acts say that in relation to "habitual criminals" (repeat offenders, in other words), a more severe punishment is chosen. These include all citizens over 21 years of age who have been more than twice convicted of any kind of felony (in English-Saxon law - a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year) and who committed any crime again.
Signs of Relapse
Analyzing the concept, types and legal significance of the recidivism, let's dwell on the specific signs of such acts. This is the following:
- Multiplicity - the number of repeated crimes.
- Specialization is the number of homogeneous crimes (it can talk about the criminological professionalism of the criminal).
- Differentiation, on the contrary, the heterogeneity of repeated criminal acts.What does she testify to? About the nature of the criminal's transition from one illegal activity to another.
Types of Relapse
The concept and significance of relapse is known to us. We pass to the most common types of phenomena:
- Common. Repetition by a person with an outstanding criminal record of crimes that are heterogeneous in their characteristics.
- Special. Here a citizen commits several homogeneous, similar or even identical crimes.
- Penitentiary. Specific type. This refers to the relapse of a crime committed by a convicted, imprisoned subject within the prison.
- Criminological. The most general category. This includes all cases of recurrence of crimes. Regardless of whether the conviction was extinguished, what was the release from punishment, the statute of limitations, the existence of a different kind of criminal record.
Types of the Criminal Code
The concept and types of criminological recidivism are in the Russian Criminal Code. He divides the phenomenon into several groups:
- Simple relapse. This includes the commission by the subject of a deliberate crime in the presence of a criminal record for a previously committed intentional crime. Here the type of punishment that was chosen in relation to the person will not matter.
- Dangerous relapse. This is a serious crime, the punishment for which is real imprisonment, + two or more crimes of medium severity, for which the person already had a criminal record. This is the first category. The second is the commission of a serious crime in the presence of a criminal record for a serious or especially serious crime, for which a real term of imprisonment was assigned.
- Particularly dangerous relapse. Again two categories. The first is the commission of a serious crime, for which a real deprivation of liberty is assigned, + two serious atrocities committed earlier, for which the subject also served a real term of imprisonment. And the second category in the group. The commission of a particularly serious crime in the presence of a criminal record for two serious or one especially serious crime.
Features of sentencing
The method of investigating the relapse of crimes and its types cannot bypass the specifics of sentencing a criminal. The following is characteristic of the criminal system of the Russian Federation:
- In any of the above types of relapse, the term of punishment may not be less than 1/3 of the maximum extension of the time of imprisonment, which is prescribed by law for this crime (in the absence of extenuating circumstances).
- The second feature. When assigning punishment for any type of relapse, the authorized person must take into account the social danger of the act, the nature and severity of the crime, the circumstances by which the previous punishment was insufficient. Moreover, the judge assesses not only the newly committed, but also the past acts of the defendant.
- If the relapse is dangerous or especially dangerous, a conditional punishment cannot be chosen for the offender.
Non criminal offenses
And the last thing we wanted to introduce you. In the Russian Federation, the recognition of relapse does not take into account the following:
- Criminal convictions for acts committed by a minor.
- Criminal convictions for negligence.
- A criminal record for intentional atrocities of a small degree.
- Criminal records annulled by Russian law. That is, withdrawn and canceled (this includes amnesty, pardon).
- A criminal record with a conditional term of imprisonment (if the correctional period has not been canceled, and the person was not sent to serve sentences in prison).
- A criminal record with a delay in the execution of the sentence (if such a measure was not canceled subsequently).
Recurrent offenses are singled out separately in many criminal laws of the world. In Russian, they are divided into several categories with which you are now familiar.