Material and formal composition of the crime. The formal structure of the crime: examples

Crime is a socially dangerous act committed by the subject of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. For such an offense, the law provides for criminal liability. The Code determines which acts are punished by the subjects who commit them.

To investigate a crime, it is important to determine its nature - whether it is finished or not completed. However, here it is important not just the presence of all the necessary characteristics. A powerful role is played by a person's idea of the end result of an act: whether socially dangerous acts were realized that occurred and whether the desired consequences had come.

Based on this, it is worth turning to the classification of the corpus delicti, depending on the content of the objective side. That is, in this way, one can single out the moment of the end of criminal actions. So, the formal, material, truncated elements of the crime are singled out.

Each of these species has its importance in criminal-legal science, so it is necessary to consider in detail all options. Many scholars are inclined to the idea that there are only two basic types - the formal and material components of the crime. They say that the truncated is a kind of the first and as an independent one will not exist.

Formal crime: how to determine?

Under a crime with a formal composition is understood this kind of offense, which provides that it will be completed from the moment when a socially dangerous act is committed. That is, the causal relationship and consequences are not included in the number of necessary attributes.

So, the object of this crime does not differ from objects of material or truncated compounds. That is, these are all the same public relations protected by criminal legislation . For causing them a specific harm or creating a threat of its application, liability is provided.

As for the subject, it also does not differ from the rest of the crimes. This is the same individual who commits an offense at the age from which criminal responsibility is imposed in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

There are also other signs of a formal crime. They include the objective and the subjective side. It is in these categories and contains the main differences of this composition from the others.

The objective and subjective side of the formal composition of the crime

Objective side is determined by external manifestations of socially dangerous assault. Formal and truncated elements of the crime differ in that in the first punishable it is precisely the commission of criminal acts (or inaction). Certain criminal consequences are not required. It turns out that the perpetrator performs all the actions that he wanted, which means that the composition is considered completed without the danger of harm to the public.

Practice has shown that a greater percentage of crimes with a formal composition is committed with direct intent. It is considered that the commission of such an offense can not be careless, because it requires a specific subjective attitude to the upcoming consequences. If they do not come, then the guilty person will not be held liable under the Criminal Code. In such a situation, the punishment will be determined by administrative legislation.

The formal structure of the crime: examples

In order to more clearly consider this type of crime, it is necessary to rely on specific examples.

So, after analyzing art. 139 of the Criminal Code, we can say that violation of the inviolability of the home, according to the above, is over from the moment when the illegal penetration into the premises directly against the will of the person who lived there has directly occurred. In this case, the legislator did not include a socially dangerous criminal consequence as an indispensable feature in the disposition of the article. Although it is here and comes as a moral injury.

Also, the formal composition of the crime covers state treason, extortion, rape, bribery.

Mixing up crime trains

There are cases when the legislator in one composition as a completed crime provides for liability only if two conditions are met: a socially dangerous act is committed and consequences have occurred.

For an example, let's take art. 258 of the Criminal Code. This article provides responsibility for illegal hunting if it occurs: with causing great damage; Using a mechanical vehicle or an aircraft, explosive means, gases or other methods for mass destruction of animals and birds; Regarding animals and birds, according to which hunting is prohibited by law; On a natural territory protected by law, in an emergency or ecological disaster zone. A similar composition by design is called the material and formal composition of the crime.

Crimes with material composition

This is the composition, the crime under which is completed from the moment when socially dangerous consequences occur. That is, the consequences are an indispensable condition, without which the committed offense will be treated differently.

For crimes with material composition include, for example, murder, theft, bodily harm of varying degrees, fraud and other.

Crimes with a truncated composition

This is such a crime in which the offense is considered to be over from the time of the preliminary criminal activity, that is, at the stage of preparation or attempt. The definition immediately makes it clear why the formal elements of the crime and the truncated one are combined into one. Because in both cases there are no consequences as an obligatory sign.

For crimes with a formal composition include, for example, encroachment on the life of a state or public figure, robbery, the formation of a criminal organization, banditry and other.

Common and distinctive features

On the way, we found out that the formal and material elements of a crime are species that have common objects and subjects, but the objective and subjective sides are completely different. They have different binding characteristics of these parties, so confusing these two types is quite difficult.

As for the truncated composition, it also has common features with the formal and the material. They are united by public relations, protected by law, and the individual who commits the crime. However, the objective side of this composition of the offense has common features with only one. This has been repeatedly mentioned above - the formal composition of the crime does not determine the consequences as an indispensable feature, as in a truncated one.

What is different? For the formal, it is enough to commit criminal acts, and for the truncated, preliminary criminal activity is important.

What concerns preliminary criminal activity?

This category includes preparation for a crime and an attempt on it. These actions are called preliminary criminal activities, because they precede the finished offense. It is when they are not absorbed by the finished crime that they have a criminal-law significance.

Cooking is an act that aims to create the necessary conditions for the commission of a crime by a certain person in the future, but not brought to the desired result for reasons that do not depend on the will of the individual.

Attempt is an act of a person who is directed directly at the commission of an offense, but not carried to the end by circumstances independent of him.

These stages define the crime as unfinished.

Practical meaning

The clarification of the crime is of considerable practical importance. This simplifies the process of determining all the components of the offense. This, in turn, makes it possible to reveal the crime committed by the subject more quickly and more qualitatively. In addition, the difficulty lies in the fact that it is not always possible to correctly determine the stage of the committed offense, and this plays an essential role in the imposition of punishment.