Author

Kanubrikov V.A.

Title of article

Qualifying signs: problems of application and compliance with the principles of the Russian criminal legislation

Section

Section 3. Criminal Law

Issue, year

2 (32) 2015

Abstract

The problems of application of qualifying signs in criminal legislation, including situations that involve violation of the principles of criminal law, are considered. The ground for applying the qualifying circumstance “causing significant harm to the citizen” is the victim’s opinion, expressed during preliminary investigation and later it can be changed to the opposite one. The dependence of the classification of crime on the opinion of victim (legal representatives of minor victim) results in judicial and investigative errors and demonstrates objective imputation. The problem of such qualifying sign as definition of major damage and using the ways of mass destruction of aquatic biological resources under Article 256 of the RF Criminal Code in the conditions of numerous crimes and offenses in sphere of these resources protection is analyzed. It’s proved that recently such criminal activity is becoming increasingly dangerous to the society due to the rapid decline of fish stocks, many species of fish being under threat of extinction, and also due to the increase in the total number of encroachments on fish resources from year to year. It’s concluded that applying qualifying signs is inevitable but their large-scale consolidation in criminal law rules leads to the violation of its principles, due to excessive discretion of those who apply the criminal law rules. The impossibility of complete elimination of law enforcement discretion in form of using qualifying signs is stated. It’s proposed to establish its limits by developing the rules of qualifying signs application and the criteria establishing the meaning of the criminal law.

Keywords

criminal legislation, principles of criminal law, qualifying signs, violation of the principles of criminal law.

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