What is intentional infliction of minor harm to health, what is the punishment under Art. 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and what is its difference from beatings?

In addition to causing bodily harm unintentionally, crimes in which there is intent and slight harm to health are quite common. Russian legislation has many features and nuances for each crime.

In this article we will consider the concept, types, responsibility, and also consider in detail the statistics, composition of such acts and distinctions from other types of crime.

Forensic characteristics

Minor health harm is divided into several subcategories:

• Minimal injuries that did not entail loss of ability to work and deterioration of health for a certain period, namely, this includes minor injuries that disappear within six days.
  For example, it could be a dislocation, scratch, bruise, slight bruise, etc.
• More serious damage , leading to more serious consequences, here refers to health problems that disappear within no more than three weeks (from 6 to 21 days), as well as those that will remain for a longer period or for life (loss of ability to work: partial loss of hearing, vision, etc.).
  There is a small nuance here: if the loss is not partial, but complete, then these are more serious consequences in the form of 30% loss of ability to work, which entails an article for intentionally causing moderate damage and other punishment.

There are these types of signs:

1. qualifying features - a number of reasons why a criminal person can aggravate his punishment.
2. Medical signs (inflicted bodily injuries) are a number of reasons by which the severity of the victim is determined.

Qualifying features

• an atrocity due to which more than 2 people were injured;
• assault while performing official duties;
• if the victim was a minor and could not defend herself;
• a crime that was committed by force or humiliation;
• a criminal group consisting of several people;
• crime committed due to ordinary hooliganism;
• the villain who used the weapon;
• discrimination against religion or race.

Medical criteria

1. no threat to life;
2. minimal damage to health;
3. short-term treatment for 21 days;
4. loss of ability to work up to 10%;
5. criteria for establishing minor harm to health.

Also review the health criteria and mental health criteria.

What does "unintentional" mean?

Causing minor harm to health through negligence (unintentional) is an act that has signs of minor harm to health , namely the absence of a threat to life, minimal damage to health, short-term treatment for 21 days, loss of ability to work up to 10% and not having any intent (not direct , nor indirect).

How to prove that this was done through negligence?

To do this you need to collect some evidence:

• recordings from CCTV cameras, recorders, etc.
  Important! It is especially important in case of an accident; a video recorder is often the only thing that can confirm your innocence.
• Witnesses who can testify that the act was committed without intent.
• Other evidence based on the specific situation.

Having collected them, you need to submit them to the investigation and wait for the result. If the evidence is significant and it clearly shows that it was a simple “coincidence” of circumstances, then the court will recognize your innocence and all that threatens you is payment of damages (financial and moral).

Since unintentional harm to health is equivalent to injuries sustained through negligence (these are synonyms), the procedure for refuting one’s guilt is absolutely the same.

Why do this?

Some people think that this is not necessary at all.
In most cases, the police do not want to open cases of minor bodily harm, and the victim cannot always prove that it was intentional bodily harm. But this needs to be proven, and here's why. At a minimum, the victim can sue for compensation for treatment costs and moral damages, and a verdict can be rendered in his favor. Then you can lose a considerable amount of money.

Types of bodily injury according to Art. 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Part two of Article 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for the following types:

1. for hooligan reasons;
2. due to hatred of race, ideology, politics, or any social group.

Important! They are classified as qualifying (aggravating) characteristics, which lead to more serious punishment.

Hooligan motives mean injuring a person without any reason.

• Example 1. Kononov L.I. was walking along an alley, an unknown person comes towards him, stops and begins to say that he does not like Kononov’s clothes, after which he uses profanity. Without waiting for a response, he uses physical force. He struck several times, which were classified as minor injuries. This case characterizes the type of crime “out of hooligan motives.”
• Example 2. Krestin K.P., while at an event, saw a representative of the Negroid race, for whom he has strong hatred. He approached him and began to provoke him into conflict; after a verbal altercation, he beat the victim. The injuries he inflicted were determined to be minor injuries. This example reveals the "on account of race hatred" view.

Statistics

In the first half of 2015, 14,540 citizens were convicted by courts of general jurisdiction under Article 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (minor bodily injury) and 116 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (beatings). Of these, 751 people were imprisoned. 411 people received a year in prison, 155 people from one to two years, 90 people from 2 to 3 years, 71 people from 3 to 5 years, 12 people from 5 to 8 years, 10 people from 8 to 10 years, 2 people from 10 up to 15.

569 people received a suspended sentence. The freedom of 401 people was limited as a basic punishment, 2,238 people were sentenced to compulsory labor, and 3,358 people were sentenced to correctional labor. 4,564 people were ordered to pay a fine, 983 people were acquitted, and the criminal case against 5,511 people was terminated due to the lack of corpus delicti.

Also, 23,885 cases were terminated on other grounds, and 252 insane persons received compulsory measures. Mitigating circumstances were taken into account in 6470 cases, and aggravating circumstances in 3853 cases.

Corpus delicti

Composition of the crime: subject, subjective side, objective side and object .

1. The subject is a citizen who has reached the age of 16.
2. The subjective side is the intentional infliction of bodily harm, namely direct or indirect intent.
3. The object is the life and health of the victim.
4. The objective side has three parts:
   harming the victim;
5. treatment of consequences;
6. comparison of the caused health problems with the actions of the offender.

Restrictions from other acts

The delimitation occurs according to the following criteria:

• The absence of general signs of the subjective side, object, objective side, but their presence in relation to the subject.
  The subject is a person who has reached the age of 16, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for liability from the age of 16 for most criminal offenses, with the exception of especially cruel ones, this can be murder or intentional bodily harm of severe or moderate degree, so this sign is not entirely suitable for delimitation, since it will coincide in many cases.
• The presence of a large number of common characteristics. For a clear explanation, let’s compare several similar articles: 115 of the Criminal Code (inflicting minor injuries intentionally) and 112 Criminal Code (inflicting moderate injuries intentionally).
  Even from the name it is clear that they are very similar to each other. But there is one point: the degree of injury inflicted and the resulting consequences. One of these consequences is loss of ability to work. In the first case, the maximum allowable rate is 10%, in the second, 30%. Such cases are called related, sometimes the delimitation can cause difficulties, since the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contains many related crimes.
• The presence of minimal common features. Let’s compare several legislative acts again: Article 113 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (infliction of moderate harm to health in a state of passion) and Article 115 (intentional infliction of minor harm).
  There is one common sign here - harm to health. There are much more differences here: the first case is carried out in a state of passion, the second consciously, the degree of damage is medium and mild, the age at which responsibility begins, etc. In this case, it is quite easy to distinguish it from other crimes.

How is it different from beating?

Article 115, i.e. minor bodily injuries inflicted intentionally, and Article 116, namely beatings, are very similar. Battery is intentional physical injury that does not entail consequences under Article 115. These consequences include:

1. loss of ability to work up to 10%;
2. short-term health disorder (up to three weeks).

In the presence of such consequences, beatings turn into intentional bodily harm of mild severity. This is their difference, i.e. in the absence of the above consequences.

Definition of minor harm to health

Causing minor harm to health - injuries that are not life-threatening , do not require long-term treatment (up to three weeks) and do not affect overall ability to work (the maximum limit in this case is up to 10%).

This is regulated by Article 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It follows from this that an action that entailed such consequences (short-term health disorder, minimal loss of ability to work) committed unintentionally refers to the concept of causing minor harm through negligence.

Criminal liability

It is worth noting that, in contrast to causing moderate or severe damage, for which responsibility begins from the age of 14, violators from the age of 16 are prosecuted for light bodily harm . The law provides an exhaustive list of penalties that can be applied to a violator.

Reference! The severity of the punishment depends not only on the qualifying criteria, but also on the degree of minor harm to health. As we described above, there is a lighter and more severe degree, this also affects the severity of the sentence.

In the absence of qualifying (aggravating characteristics):

• fine, but not more than 40 thousand rubles;
• a fine in the amount of three salaries of the person who committed the crime;
• arrest for up to 4 months;
• up to a year of correctional labor;
• up to 480 hours of community service.

With the presence of qualifying characteristics:

• imprisonment for up to two years;
• restriction of freedom for up to two years;
• up to 360 hours of compulsory work;
• up to a year of correctional labor;
• up to two years of forced labor;
• arrest for up to six months.

Despite the impressive list of possible punishments, the police do not want to waste time on this type of crime. In order to punish the culprit, take care of the maximum possible evidence base.

This could be recordings from CCTV cameras, a certificate of beatings from a medical institution, or witnesses. Having collected evidence, the likelihood of being prosecuted and achieving, if not criminal punishment, then at least moral and financial damage, increases many times over, which is especially important in case of loss of ability to work.

We talked more about responsibility here.

How are damage caused determined and recorded?

Remember one important thing - if you want to prove the fact of causing any injuries, be sure to record them. The presence of a conclusion will be mandatory for contacting the police, prosecutor's office and court. In this case, damages need to be recorded only by doctors. It is impossible to independently describe the existing injuries and draw up a medical report, even if you are a certified doctor - the examination must be carried out by a third party.

Important

At the same time, it is not enough to record the damage itself. You will also need to provide other evidence. For example, filming an attack from surveillance cameras, video recorders, etc. Also, do not hesitate to involve witnesses. To do this, you can always contact the police.