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у.
▼ УДК 343.988 Виктимология 2(4) / 2015, стр. 7-11
Mayorov A. V.
VICTIMOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES OF VICTIMS IN CRIMINAL LEGISLATION OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION
The article deals with the terminology used in the legislation of the Russian Federation , in the literature , and law enforcement in determining a person who has suffered damage as a result of the offense. A concept of the victim of the crime , used in the rules of criminal law and criminal procedure law , identifies some of the legal problems of the analyzed application standards, as well as the question of the need separation of substantive and procedural concepts of the victim at the legislative level. The author’s position on the issue.
Keywords: the victim, the victim , the victim of a crime, victimology, the signs of the victim, a legal concept.
The Constitution of Russian Federation declares the observanee and protection of rights and freedoms of man and citizen as one of the most important duties of the state. So science is trying to investigate objective and subjective reasons and causes of such a social phenomenon as crime. Scientists mainly concentrate their study on offenders, their social environment, personality traits and behaviour. Causes and grounds of crime are generally studied from this perspective and the best preventive measures are being looked for.
Such attention to the main figure of crime and their behaviour is obvious and can be explained. The criminal breaks social rules, rights and freedoms of other citizens guaranteed by the state. So it is quite natural that offenders and their antisocial behaviour are the top priority in the development of preventive measures.
But it is very important to take into consideration the fact that though an offender is the main figure but not the only one in an offense. A crime has multiple nature and combines three interrelated elements: an offender, an offense or taking no action and a victim [5, p. 4].
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Russian scientists studied victim's status in criminal legal proceedings at different stages of modern legislation. A lot of studies are devoted to victim's status in criminal legislation. For example, V.N. Sa-vinov emphasizes paramount importance of criminal-legal notion of victim and claims that the definition of the notion «victim» in legal-procedural code should be based on legal-material law because one can not say who is a victim without turning to criminal law; legal-procedural definition of «victim» must correspond to the stages of the development of criminal activity, take into account the variety of consequences that arise after an infringement on the objects of criminal-legal protection.
Research made by scientists and experts in this field reveals that not every victim falls under legal-procedural law but only the one that is officially recognized as a participant of legal proceedings or a sufferer with all possible consequences. Russian scientists came to the conclusion that the notion «victim» is wider and involves not only real sufferers but also potential, latent ones and their relatives who are no longer alive; individuals who suffer directly
ТЕОРИЯ УЧЕНИЯ О ЖЕРТВЕ И ПРАВА ЧЕЛОВЕКА
or indirectly; individuals who are harmed as a result of a crime or other illegal actions; individuals who are officially recognized as victims; individuals or their plurality, society, state, all world law and order. The study of crime victims gave birth to a separate branch of science, that is, criminal victimology [6, p. 34].
In a free society every citizen has the right to put themselves under a serious threat of turning to a victim. The victim of a crime is a person who suffered morally, physically or from the damage to property as a result of an illegal action not depending on being recognized as a victim of this crime by the order according to the law [5, p. 208]. Sometimes a citizen is not able to avoid the threat without isolating themselves from the society. So victimology should reveal the risk that a citizen faces in order to take precautions and resist this threat.
It should be mentioned that the necessity of studying peculiarities of victimism and victimization is caused by reasons of applicable nature. In particular, without understanding the victim's personality, its victimizing traits and its role in commiting a crime it will be difficult to qualify and individualize a crime, to punish a guilty.
Nowadays the traditional problems of victimology turn to the research of «victim-criminal» relationship at the level of interpersonal relations. On the whole it remains the major object of the state central authorities in victimological prevention alongside with the solution of the problems on the development of victimological policy, timely guarantee of lawful basis for its pursuing, on protection of victim's rights at the court and compensation to the victims of crimes.
Analysis of modern Russian criminal legislation shows that some of common issues of victimological crime prevention are reflected and are partly being solved according to legal norms in Russian Federation Legal Code (RFLC) that guarantee the protection of victims.
Most of typical traits of victim's personality have been taken into consideration in the formation of norms of Special part in RFLC. You can observe victimological potential quite clearly in chapters 16-34 of RFLC. These peculiarities are an essential sign of main or qualified constitutions of a crime. In the description of an object or an objective side in 196 constitutions of crime
the legislator uses these or those peculiarities of victim's personality and behaviour. Besides, the peculiarities mentioned above can be found in 64 constitutions of crime, in 70 middle severity ones, in 40 severe ones, in 27 very severe ones [1, p. 164].
In most paragraphs of Special part of RFLC a victim is considered to be a participant of social relationships protected within legal law. Thus, in some legal norms legislator fixes the peculiarities of victim's personality from the crime that characterise age, physiological condition, psychological condition, social status, positive and negative behaviour. To confirm the said above we can refer to V.I. Zadorozhny who claims that in many criminal situations the most important and sometimes decisive role belongs to victim's behaviour [2, p.19].
Qualitative signs of victim's personality are included by the legislator into constitutions of many crimes and can characterise the object of infringement or influence on the degree and type of social danger corresponding to crimes and represent signs of the main or qualified constitution.
In order to comprehend victimological component of RFL, I suggest more careful research of victim's personality signs included into RFLC.
Age signs of victimism that characterise the victim of a crime are not unambiguous. In some paragraphs the legislator distinguishes the protection of the minor, that is to say, people under the age of 18 ( par. 126 part 2 clause «d», par. 127 part 2 clause «d», par. 131 part 3 clause «a», par. 132 part 2 clause «a», par. 150, par. 151, etc.). The young (par. 105 part 2 clause «c», par. 111 part 2 clause «b», par. 112 part 2 clause «c», etc.) and children (par. 153, par. 154) should have special protection. You can also find such a criterion as «children under the age of 6» (par. 238 part 2 clause «c»). The legislator also provides protection of old people. They are mentioned in par. 125 «Leaving in danger». This norm characterises not only the age criterion but also indicates victim's physiological condition (some kind of illness or being ill).
Criminal legislation defines physiological signs of victim's victimology as helpless condition of a person ( par. 105 part 2 clause «c», par. 111 part 2 clause «b», par. 112 part 2 clause «b», par. 125, etc.), woman's pregnancy (par. 105 part 2 clause «d», par. 117 part 2 clause «с», par. 126 part 2 «f», par.
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145, etc.) and being ill as it has been mentioned (par. 125).
Psychological condition of a victim is considered to be a privileged constitution. So paragraph 106 foresees psychotraumatic situation of a newborn's mother, paragraph 107 and paragraph 113 - the state of sudden strong agitation (affect).
Social status of a victim is devoted to a considerable number of legal norms protecting rights and freedoms of victims related to the implementation of their professional and other activity; the implementation of official activity and social duty by a person (par. 105 part 2 clause «b», par. 111 part 2 clause «a», par. 117 part 2 clause «b»), the implementation of justice (par. 295, par. 296, par. 297, etc.), fulfillment of official duties by an authority's representative (par. 317, par. 318, par. 319, par. 320), implementation of other activities and representation (par. 169, par.184, par. 333-336, par. 360, etc.).
Features that characterise victim's behaviour (RFLC devides them into positive or lawful; negative or unjustifiable, immor-
al behaviour; agreement of a victim) can be found both in an objective and subjective side of a crime [1, p.166].
Negative behaviour of a victim (in this case a sufferer) is described by the legislator as qualifying signs in paragraph 107, paragraph 113, paragraph 108 part 2, paragraph 114 part 2 - violence, abuse, grave insult or other illegal or immoral action; paragraph 108 part 1; paragraph 114 part 1 - attack on a potential victim.
Positive behaviour of a victim can be described in combination with social signs connected to person's pursuing professional activity and social duty (par. 105 part 2 clause «b», par. 111 part 2 clause «a», par. 112 part 2 clause «b», par. 117 part 2 clause «b»), implementation of justice, fulfilment of official duties of an authority representative (par. 317, par. 318. par. 319, par. 320).
Thus, the analysis of RFLC allows to highlight victimologically important signs of victims who have suffered from crimes and to classify them (picture 1) [3 p. 58-60].
It should be mentioned that victimolog-ical measures involve elimination or neu-
Picture 1. Classification of victims in RFLC according to victimologically important signs.
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tralization of factors (reasons and causes), causing or promoting victimation. They include influence both on the factors determining unjustifiable or immoral behaviour of victims and the factors increasing the risk of becoming a victim in case of justifiable and especially active behaviour, by means of realizing victimological prevention.
Victimological prevention is a specialized field in the system of crime prevention. It matches the system of preventive influence as much as victim's behaviour is involved into the mechanism of factors determining and promoting crimes. But victimo-logical prevention has its peculiarities that make the grounds for considering it in some extent as an independent field of criminological prevention of crimes [4, p. 33].
It is becoming obvious today that social-legal control over crime can not be effective enough if you do not take into consideration its social consequences. General social characteristics of victims (victims of crimes) take an important place among them. It is obvious that the experience of foreign ju-ridistic system in its victimological aspect is very important and promising.
Despite profound scientific research in the field of victimology in Russia there is still no complete conception of victimologi-cal prevention taking into consideration its organization and legal aspects. This complicates putting it into practice and theoretical statements of victimology remain unclaimed.
In the atmosphere of annual deterioration of criminal situation in Russia decreasing the protection of rights and freedoms of man and citizen and increase of society victimization level on the whole, legislative function of state is believed to be one of the leading functions providing the achievement of real results in decreasing the crime level.
Some restrictions of the preventative activity possibilities and still insuficient effectiveness besides other reasons are also explained by the fact that both scientists and experts in the field of counteraction to crime concentrate mainly on an offender or a crime.
Unfortunately, legislature do not give proper attention to the problems of victimo-logical prevention.
REFERENCES
1. Varchuk T.V., Vishnevsky K.V. Victimology: manual for students/Edited by Lebedev S.Y. - 2nd edition, reprinted with corrections. - M.: UNITI-DANA: Law and right, 2010.
2. Zadorozhny V.I. Concept basics of victimological prevention of crimes. Autosynopsis of the dissertation for Doctoral degree of Jurisprudence. — M.: 2006.
3. Maiorov A.V. Basics of victimology: manual for students. — Chelyabinsk: Chelyabinsk Institute of Law, 2008
4. Polubinsky V.I., Sitkovsky A.L. Theoretical and practical foundation of criminal victimology: Monograph. — M.: SRI MIA of Russia, 2006.
5. Sitkovsky A.L. Unique specific nature of criminal victimology / Professional. - №2. — 2007.
MAYOROV Andrey V., candidate of law, associate Professor, Legal Disciplines Department Chairman, Ozersk branch of the “South Ural State University” (national research university).
E-mail: [email protected]
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Майоров А. В.
ВИКТИМОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ ПОТЕРПЕВШИХ В УГОЛОВНОМ ЗАКОНОДАТЕЛЬСТВЕ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ
В статье рассматривается понятие «жертва преступления» и его отличие от «потерпевшего от преступления», определяется правовое положение жертв в законодательстве России, анализируются нормы действующего уголовного законодательство России, включающие виктимологиче-ски значимые признаки потерпевших, а также ставится вопрос о необходимости использования теоретических познаний науки виктимологии при законотворческой деятельности.
Ключевые слова: Потерпевший от преступления, жертва преступления, потерпевший, признаки потерпевшего, виктимология.
ПРИМЕЧАНИЯ
1. Варчук Т. В., Вишневский К. В., Виктимология: учеб. пособие; Под ред. С. Я. Лебедева. - 2-е изд., перераб. и доп. - М.: ЮНИТИ-ДАНА: Закон и право, 2010. - 191 c.
2. Задорожный В. И. Концептуальные основы виктимологической профилактики преступлений : автореф. дисс. ... докт. юрид. наук. — М. — 2006. — 47с.
3. Майоров А. В. Виктимологическая модель противодействия преступности: монография / А.В. Майоров. — М: Юрлитинформ. — 2014. — 224 с.
4. Майоров А. В. Основы виктимологии : учебное пособие. — Челябинск : Челябинский юридический институт МВД России, 2008. — 82 с.
5. Полубинский В. И. Ситковский А. Л. Теоретические и практические основы криминальной виктимологии : Монография. — М. : ВНИИ МВД России, 2006. — 291 с.
6. Ситковский А. Л. Уникальная специфика криминальной виктимологии / Профессионал. — №2. — 2007. — C. 11-12.
МАЙОРОВ Андрей Владимирович, кандидат юридических наук, доцент, заведующий кафедрой «Правовые дисциплины», филиал Южно-Уральского государственного университета (национальный исследовательский университет), г. Озёрск E-mail: [email protected]
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