Attempted murder and liability for it under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

According to the norms of Russian legislation, any unfinished criminal act constitutes an attempt. For example, if a person tried to steal someone else's property and was detained, he was attempted theft, and if there was an attempt to kill, he was attempted murder.

Despite the apparent simplicity of the definition of a crime, in practice quite often problems arise with the qualification of such an act. For example, it may be difficult for authorized persons and the victim to determine what exactly the criminal wanted: to simply make a threat and back it up with actions, or to actually kill a person.

The article under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for attempted murder provides for many signs that make it possible to accurately determine the intentions that guided the criminal when committing an unlawful act.

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Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of June 13, 1996 N 63-FZ

What does attempted murder mean?

Committing such an illegal act is possible only with direct intent.
Consequently, when committing such actions, the guilty person wished the death of the victim and tried to achieve a lethal outcome to the crime. Such actions can be qualified as this illegal act only if the actions of the criminal were stopped or suppressed (he failed to fulfill his intentions). That is, for objective reasons, the person’s death never occurred.

Attempted murder of a person can be classified under the following articles:

1. Part 3 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
2. Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

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Article 30. Preparation for a crime and attempted crime of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Article 105. Murder of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

If during the trial the guilt of the accused is proven, he cannot be subject to punishment exceeding ¾ of the maximum amount of liability provided for in the articles.

Important: Based on the norms of the Criminal Code, attempted murder means the impossibility of the criminal, for objective reasons, to complete his intent.

Characteristics of the assassination attempt

Attempted murder is provided for under Part 3 of Art. 30 of the Criminal Code of Russia. In accordance with the article, an offense is considered to be the actions (inaction) of a criminal committed intentionally and aimed at carrying out the act in the event that the offense was not fully executed due to factors beyond their control.

To better understand this term, you need to describe an example. The former partner stole a large sum of money from N. and disappeared. Because of the theft, N. received emotional trauma (a man betrayed by a woman), which negatively affected his financial situation. Enraged by this incident, N. enters the woman's house with a murder weapon. But N.’s plan is disrupted by a huge dog that attacks him. The victim calls the police, who arrest the unlucky criminal.

This example shows an attempted murder with all the elements of the act: motive, action, weapon, unforeseen factors (dog). Therefore, the violator of the law is charged with attempted murder. The subjective assessment of a criminal act is associated with emotional and intellectual components. And the question arises: why didn’t N. shoot the dog and end the crime?

In practice, lawyers strive to prove that the goals of the offender were not criminal in nature. N. could have entered the woman’s apartment in order to simply talk to her, and not kill her. The man did not shoot the dog, despite the opportunity to do so, which is proof of the peaceful purposes of the visit. But the question remains: why weapons? Answer: you have a permit to carry a weapon (for example, for self-defense). And the woman should be considered a criminal, because she committed the theft. This method can lead to the shifting of responsibility in order to avoid punishment or mitigate it. In this example, the maximum possible incrimination against N. is unauthorized entry into someone else’s home.

Every criminal act consists of 3 phases:

• Preparation;
• assassination attempt;
• act.

The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation considers attempted murder as actions performed by a person to cause the death of the victim with direct intent, but due to factors independent of the offender, not fully executed.

Minors are also punished for attempted murder. The court must accept as true that the juvenile offender did not renounce the attempt on his own, but under the influence of certain reasons.

Attempted murder may be carried out to cover up another crime. Thus, an attempted murder may have the goal of preventing the detection of an organized crime (say, the involvement of government agencies in terrorism). Thus, in the Indian film, someone nicknamed Queen makes an attempt on the life of a chess master in order to prevent the investigation into the minister’s involvement in terrorism. Or, for example, in one series they tried to kill an auditor to cover up theft by writing off a large amount of state flour reserves for personal gain.

A separate article in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is devoted to an attempt on the state system, aimed at overthrowing or changing the constitutional system of Russia through violence or violating the integrity of the territorial structure of Russia. A separate article in the Russian Criminal Code defines attempted murder of a public or government figure. This is a special case of attempted murder.

There is an encroachment on a criminal act in a state of passion. But as a rule, preparation for a crime in an affective state does not occur due to the fact that the intent arises and is realized in a short period of time. Usually, an attempt in an affective state is committed with a direct, ambiguous intention with the desire to inflict various injuries on the victim. In these situations, it is necessary to evaluate actions based on the available results in fact, i.e., causing serious harm to health or damage to health of moderate severity.

Often there is an attempted murder for hooligan reasons. In some cases, it is quite difficult to distinguish attempted murder from ordinary hooliganism, and therefore the attacker receives a more lenient sentence. The court may not even sentence the offender to serve a prison sentence, but impose a fine.

An attempt differs from a completed criminal act in that there is no final result in the act. As a rule, it takes place in acts with a material component (murder, robbery).

In the commentary to Article 30, some consultants point to the fact that in acts with formal offenses, an encroachment according to the usual rule never occurs. This point of view is incorrect, since the Criminal Code of Russia includes articles describing acts, the attempted implementation of which is not associated with the execution of long-term actions by the criminal. For example, an attempt to provide a bribe may occur when a possible bribe-taker refuses to accept a reward.

If a formal offense continues for quite a long time, then it may cease, and then the act will take the form of an attempt. For example, desertion by leaving a military unit.

Attempted fraud, which is unlike fraud, is interpreted in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation not only as certain actions, but also as the absence of actions that could lead to the implementation of the act. Usually this is a failure to comply with job descriptions by employees, although they understood that they were providing the opportunity for fraudsters to carry out the act.

Criminal punishment for attempted fraud is possible only when the fraud is committed on a large or especially large scale.

Types of unfinished murder

Responsibility applies not only in “ordinary” attempts to lead to death, but also in a number of exceptional cases:

1. If it was planned to carry out qualified murder with aggravating circumstances.
2. If a mother tries to take the life of her newborn child, but for some reason she fails to complete her plan.
3. If the death was caused in a state of passion (strong emotional disturbance of a person, which arose suddenly due to the commission of illegal actions by the victim).

Qualification Features

Often in judicial practice, difficulties arise with the issue of determining all the constituent elements of a crime.

The problems of proper application of the law also make their own adjustments in the choice of punishment, which is in direct connection with an attempt to cause death, carried out intentionally.

Each intentional crime has a number of stages, the presence of which (or their absence) classifies the crime as completed (or not completed), on which the further qualification of the act depends. The legislator identifies several stages of committing criminal acts, which are covered by Art. 30 criminal law:

1. Activities to prepare for a crime, which include the search for assistants (accomplices), the presence of collusion with third parties, the production of additional means (instruments of crime), the artificial creation of conditions that would facilitate the commission of this crime.
2. Attempt, which implies deliberate actions that can lead to achieving the result planned by the criminal.

To qualify through Art. 30 of the Code is the only condition that all actions taken, which should be aimed at obtaining a criminal result, did not lead to irreversible consequences for reasons beyond the control of the person who took them.

When an assassination attempt is impossible

In relation to some illegal acts, there cannot be an attempt. Despite the fact that the death was prevented, the provisions of Article 30 of the Criminal Code do not apply to such crimes.

When self-defense limits are exceeded

Article 108 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for holding the guilty person accountable for committing two types of illegal acts that were directed against human life:

1. A murder committed by a person exceeding the permissible limits for self-defense.
2. A murder that was the result of exceeding the measures the use of which was necessary to apprehend the criminal.

Article 108. Murder committed when exceeding the limits of necessary defense of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
The right to defense is a natural right of any person, enshrined at the legislative level. However, if such limits are exceeded, the actions of a citizen countering crime can also be considered an illegal act.

At the level of Russian legislation, a separate norm considers the commission of a murder that occurred when the culprit repelled an attack of a socially dangerous nature.

Such actions will not be considered as exceeding the limits of self-defense, and therefore cannot entail criminal prosecution of the person who committed such actions.

When causing death by negligence

The object of such an illegal act is also human life, however, according to the norms of criminal law, such actions cannot be classified as murder.

Such a death can occur due to the frivolity of the accused, due to his negligence. Such a crime should be distinguished from innocent causing of death, which occurs when the following conditions are met:

1. The person did not have the opportunity to foresee the death of the victim, and should have done this according to the circumstances of the case.
2. If a person had the opportunity to foresee a likely fatal outcome, but there was no way to prevent it due to the inconsistency of psychophysical qualities with extreme conditions and overloads.

Attention: The conclusion about a person’s guilt in committing such an unlawful act must be based on a thorough analysis of all actions committed by the accused and an objective assessment of the entire situation as a whole.

When liability under Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not apply

They will not be convicted of attempted premeditated murder unless the suspect's guilt is proven in court. There are also situations in which the court can reclassify the actions or inaction of the violator under other articles.

For example, a threat of death or serious harm to health (Articles 111 and 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). When making a decision, all circumstances relevant to the correct classification of the crime will be considered.

Problems of distinguishing crimes from other offenses

When studying the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, it is possible to identify several crimes with a similar composition, which explains the difficulty of qualifying such illegal acts.

1. Threat to commit murder. In practice, quite often there are situations when a person, shouting “I’ll kill,” points a knife at another citizen. Such actions are most often committed in the heat of a quarrel, but this does not prevent the problems of distinguishing such a crime from attempted murder. The qualification of the committed criminal act is determined by carefully studying all the circumstances of the case, the details of the incident and reliable information about the direction of the actions committed and the presence of intent. Since there is a huge difference between the penalties for such illegal actions, it is important to qualify them correctly.
2. Serious bodily harm. As practice shows, crimes in which grievous bodily harm was caused to the victim are considered the most difficult when assessing the circumstances of the incident. When qualifying an unlawful act, it is necessary to take into account the fact whether the criminal had the intent to kill a person or whether there was a desire only to inflict serious injuries on him so that he would have to restore his health for a long time.
3. The ability to complete actions. When delimiting crimes, the ability of the guilty person to complete his actions is also taken into account. For example, if a person strangled another citizen and was stopped by a third person, such actions may be regarded as an attempt. And if no one prevented the criminal from bringing the matter to death, but he stopped on his own, he will be held liable for causing grievous bodily harm.

Nuances of responsibility

The courts determine in each case:

• the motives for the actions or inaction of the accused;
• intentions (goals) of causing death;
• method of murder;
• location and nature of wounds;
• other circumstances important to the case.

When a verdict is reached in an attempted murder case, special attention is paid to the reasons why the crime was not completed. After all, it’s one thing when a criminal stops on his own, and quite another if he’s stopped.

Cases from judicial practice

Example 1. One of the courts of the Republic of Sakha sentenced citizen Sh. to imprisonment in a maximum security colony for:

• 10 years under Part 3 of Art. 30, paragraph “a”, part 2, art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
• 18 years old under clause “a”, part 2, art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The total punishment (partial addition) was 19 years.

A little about the details of the case. The court found that the drunken Sh., out of personal hostility towards I. and Kh., had the intention to kill them. In relation to citizen I., the plan was completed with blows of a kitchen knife to the torso and neck area. The criminal was unable to complete the murder of citizen X. due to reasons beyond his control. After the wounds and blows inflicted on him, Kh. locked himself away from Sh. in another room. Then neighbors got into the apartment and called doctors. Kh. was taken to the hospital. He survived.

Example 2. The Birobidzhan district court sentenced citizen K. for attempted murder to 4 years in prison in a general regime colony under Part 3 of Art. 30 and part 1 art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Some details of the case. The court found that K. was guilty of attempted murder (specially causing death) of citizen E. The intentions were not completed due to the fact that the victim was quickly provided with medical assistance. K. could not influence this. The intent in the trial was confirmed by the circumstances of the incident, the high destructive power of the knife (the crime weapon), the force of the blow and the location of the wound. There was no doubt.

How is the sentence term calculated?

The procedure for bringing a person to justice for committing actions characterized as attempted murder is clearly regulated by the relevant Resolution of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
This regulatory act determines that the punishment for the perpetrator is applied in accordance with the standards established by Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, but the chosen measure must be no more than ¾ of the maximum punishment established in the article. For example, for committing an attempt to kill a person that does not fall within the qualifications (without aggravating circumstances), Article 105 establishes a maximum term of imprisonment of up to 15 years. Accordingly, in the case of attempted murder, a person can be sentenced to a term of just over 11 years.

In what cases are more severe penalties provided?

More severe penalties are established for so-called qualified crimes, that is, murders that were committed with aggravating circumstances. In particular, such murders include:

1. Murder of two or more people.
2. The murder of a person carrying out official activities, or members of his family, because of his activities, fulfilling his duty to the public.
3. The death of a young child or other person who, known to the guilty person, was in a helpless state at the time of the commission of the act.
4. The murder of a pregnant woman, which the perpetrator knew about.
5. The murder of a person committed with extreme cruelty.
6. Death committed in a manner that poses a public danger.
7. Actions and murders committed based on blood feud.
8. A crime that was committed by a group of persons, including those situations where such citizens acted by prior conspiracy.
9. Actions committed for hire or for selfish purposes.
10. Acts committed to conceal other crimes or facilitate their commission.
11. Murder motivated by racial, political or national hatred.
12. Crimes committed for the purpose of further use of the victim’s organs or tissues.

Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for liability for such illegal acts in the form of imprisonment for up to 20 years or life imprisonment. However, since a person cannot be sentenced for life for attempted murder, when calculating the sentence, the judge takes into account exactly the 20-year time period. Therefore, the maximum sentence for qualified attempt is 15 years.

Difference between death threat and attempt

The threat of murder is qualified according to Art. 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In practice, it can be quite difficult to distinguish it from a real assassination attempt. Meanwhile, punishments for these crimes vary significantly: under Part 1 of Article 105 of the Russian Federation, 9, Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, you can get up to 15 years in prison, and under Part 1 of Art. 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - only 2 years.

For convenience, we present the distinction between these crimes in the table.

Selected legal aspects of the crime

Jurisdiction, characteristics of the crime, arguments
Cases of attempted murder are heard by city or district courts.

Bringing the guilty person to justice occurs in accordance with the standards established in Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the application of liability measures within the framework of Part 3 of Article 30 of this normative act is possible only in cases where, as a result of the commission of criminal actions, death did not occur.

The amount of punishment applied directly depends on the qualifications of the unlawful act.

Statute of limitations for bringing the perpetrator to criminal liability

The statute of limitations under which a guilty person can be held accountable for committing an unlawful act directly depends on the nature of the crime: the general statute of limitations is 15 years.

Arbitrage practice

If we talk about judicial practice in cases of murder under Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, it is worth noting that before establishing responsibility for a crime, the court takes into account many factors:

• qualifications (qualified murder or unqualified misdemeanor);
• lawyer's speech;
• connections with criminal groups;
• video evidence;
• mock crime.

The court considers the case for at least a month (this time is necessary to familiarize yourself with the case materials, determine the punishment, and consider the problem individually). The legislation (its norm) does not limit the period of consideration (there may be several appeals, rescheduling of hearings, etc.) - this can last a year or more.

The lawyer representing the interests must have an appropriate diploma. Court decisions are often made in favor of the victim - the perpetrator then ends up in punishment. There he may be subject to an amnesty after some time. He can also ask for parole. The basis for this will be a positive characteristic from the colony.

The jurisdiction of such cases most often is at the place of residence of one of the subjects or the place where the crime was committed. For example, a crime against citizen Lebedev was committed in Zelenograd by a group of people from Lipetsk. The case may be considered at the place where it was committed.

Qualifying features

This crime can be differentiated depending on the reasons for the threats against the victim. So, according to Part 2 of Art. 119, if the behavior of the accused was motivated by political, racial, national, religious or ideological differences, these are aggravating circumstances .

This also includes hatred of any social group with the expression of threats against a person belonging to it.

A crime under Part 2 of this article significantly increases the punishment.

If enmity and hatred occurred due to belonging to any of the above groups, it makes sense for the victim to try to prove it.

Learn more about the signs of serious bodily harm.

Gravity of the crime and statute of limitations

Responsibility under Art. 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation occurs for a citizen even when he is only planning to commit a crime : he is developing a plan, acquiring or preparing a murder weapon. The severity of an imperfect or partially committed offense is qualified in accordance with Art. 105. If the plan was to attempt to murder at least two persons, with particular cruelty, or to deliberately cause death for hire, then the sentence for such a crime will be substantial (up to 20 years).

With what intent is an attempted murder possible? Exclusively with the direct one, since the criminal was aware that his actions were criminally punishable and potentially dangerous for the person whom he wished death. Yes, the court takes into account mitigating circumstances, for example, a state of passion, the occurrence of which must be proven.

Based on Part 3 of Art. 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, attempted crime is an action that was not completed by the attacker due to the occurrence of certain circumstances. Attempted murder can also be considered the infliction of grievous bodily harm, although the accused of such a crime will in every possible way assure the court that he “just wanted to beat the victim” and had no intention of killing him. In practice, it turns out that Article 105 is very difficult to distinguish from Art. 111 (intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm).

Application of Art. 105 via Art. 30. Part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation must be justified, and here much depends on the competence of the judge. Representatives of the prosecutor's office themselves realize how difficult it can be to qualify such acts. Therefore, the presence/absence of intent and the circumstances that led to the termination of the crime are always taken into account (what obstacles prevented the criminal from completing his plan).

Trial

This is interesting! Criminal Code - Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: threat to human life and health

The presence of deliberate intent, a clear awareness of the onset of negative consequences and the desire for death to a person - all this together allows the competent authorities to initiate a criminal case. How much do they get for attempted murder? In different ways, depending on which part of the Criminal Code is applicable to each specific case.

If the criminal managed to avoid punishment, this does not mean that time is on his side, because an attempt on a person’s life is punishable on the basis of Art. 105 via Art. 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, even if 10 or more years have passed since the crime was committed. According to current legislation, the statute of limitations for such crimes is 15 years .

Types of assassination attempt

There are several classifications of attempted murder. The first is a completed attempt and an unfinished one. The criterion is the completeness of the criminal’s actions. That is, a person either performs all planned actions, but a negative result does not occur, or not all planned actions are performed. The most important thing is that the crime is interrupted due to circumstances beyond the control of the subject.

The second classification, which is also widely used, is the identification of an unsuitable attempt at a crime as a type, which, in turn, is divided into two independent subspecies: an attempt on an unsuitable object, an object, or an attempt committed with an unsuitable weapon. The criterion in this case is objective signs, both mandatory and optional. Here a clear circumstance appears that did not depend on the subject and prevented the completion of the act, namely the unsuitability of one of the elements of the composition.

Types and examples

The question of what this crime consists of should be analyzed using examples from real judicial practice.

Example 1. Citizen Ivanov, in order to individually receive an inheritance from his father, decided to “remove” his competitors, his older brother and sister, with whom he had strained relations, from his road. Choosing a pistol as his “punitive weapon,” Ivanov fired two shots (not in a crowded place) at his relatives. As a result, the older brother was seriously wounded in the chest, and the sister was wounded in the shoulder. Due to the timely call of an ambulance and thanks to the competent work of doctors, the brother and sister remained alive.

In this example, there are two aggravating circumstances characteristic of paragraphs “a” and “h” of Part 2 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Example 2. Citizen Sidorov spent a long time planning exactly how he would take the life of his wife’s lover. As a result, he kidnaps him and locks him in the basement of his own house, where he subjects him to all sorts of torture and beatings. As a result, Sidorov decides to kill and begins to strangle his captive, but at that moment a local police officer was passing by the house and, hearing a plea for help, burst into the basement in time and stopped Sidorov’s actions, which were undoubtedly aimed at causing death.

Sidorov’s actions are typical for paragraph “e” of Part 2 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Example 3. Citizen Alekseev, trying to hide the fact that he had committed another illegal act - rape, decided on an even more terrible act and intended to kill his victim so that she would not be able to contact the police and, accordingly, he could feel relatively safe. The incident took place in a public park, off the footpath, near a pond. At that moment, when Alekseev began to drown the victim, two young men passed by and, using force, detained the criminal.

It is also necessary to understand that this act can be considered not only within the framework of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Article 106 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - the murder of a newborn child by a mother is a terrible act both by law and by moral and human standards, but, unfortunately, quite often encountered.

For example, citizen Ivannikova did her best to hide her pregnancy from her relatives. This citizen was in her last month of pregnancy in her apartment; she went into labor, and since she did not like pregnancy, she did not call an ambulance. Miraculously, the birth was successful, but, realizing that it is now no longer possible to hide her situation, the new mother decides to do a terrible thing. Using a pillow, she begins to strangle the newborn child, but fortunately, a neighbor arrived in time to the screams, interrupted the criminal’s actions and thereby saved the child’s life.

So, the provisions of Article 106 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are as follows:

Causing death by a mother of a newborn child during or immediately after childbirth, as well as murder by a mother of a newborn child in a psychotraumatic situation or in a state of mental disorder that does not preclude sanity, is punishable by restriction of freedom for a term of two to four years, or by forced labor for a term of up to five. years, or imprisonment for the same period.

Article 107 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is murder committed in a state of passion. Example:

The young man, Full Name 1, was subjected to insults and humiliation in every possible way from his fellow students. The situation went far, and Full Name 1 even had to turn to psychologists, but this did not stop the villains. Walking home after classes, Full Name 1 sees how, in the entrance of his house, one of his fellow students is writing all sorts of insults about him, including those concerning his parents.

Because of this, FULL NAME 1 begins an attack of uncontrollable aggression, he runs up to the “artist”, delivers a series of punches to the head area and begins to choke him. At the last moment, when the victim was already in a dying state, mother FULL NAME 1 ran out to the noise and managed to pull her son away in time and call an ambulance. The victim was taken to the hospital, where he was miraculously saved.

In this example, due to the established circumstances of all kinds of insults and the psychological state of Full Name 1, it would be incorrect to classify the crime committed as intentional; the qualification should be in accordance with the provisions of Article 107 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which states the following:

1. Murder committed in a state of sudden strong emotional disturbance (affect) caused by violence, mockery or grave insult on the part of the victim or other illegal or immoral actions (inaction) of the victim, as well as a long-term psychologically traumatic situation that arose in connection with systematic illegal or immoral behavior victim, is punished by correctional labor for up to two years, restriction of freedom for up to three years, or forced labor for up to three years, or imprisonment for the same term.
2. The murder of two or more persons committed in a state of passion is punishable by forced labor for up to five years or imprisonment for the same period.