Concept, forms, signs and types of theft

Ownership by relevance in CriminalCode of the Russian Federation (Criminal Code) is put on the second place after the personal rights of a citizen. In this article we consider the concept, signs, forms and types of theft, pursued by the legislation of the Russian Federation. It is the offenses related to the infringement of property rights that account for more than half of all crimes that took place in our country in the past few years and even decades.

The concept of theft

In order to formulate the concept, characteristics, types of theft, you need to study not only the current legislation, but also refer to the previous system of bills.

At all times, all nations, includingancient, the basis of criminal law constituted property offenses and encroachment on human life. As for Russian justice, the term “theft”, originally described in important laws and decrees of past centuries, played an important role (Council Code of 1649, Catherine II's Decree “On trial and punishment for theft of different kinds” of 1781).

In 1845The first set of laws on criminal responsibility of Russia appears, in which the generic term “theft” is replaced by “theft”, signs, forms, types of which were described and supplemented in subsequent draft laws of criminal law.

Theft in modern interpretation meansa set of crimes committed for mercenary motives, aimed at the deliberate and irrevocable seizure of someone else's property in favor of the offender.

Signs of theft

All forms and types of theft unite in themselves a number of fundamental features, including:

• Selfish purpose.The sign suggests that the perpetrator or a group of perpetrators commit a wrongful act for personal reasons with the desire to extract material gain in their favor or third parties. An example of mercenary misbehavior: to appropriate someone else's property with the purpose of enrichment (wallet). In the history of jurisprudence there have been cases of theft of other people's material assets and property in order to distribute them to people in need (the poor).
• Wrongfulness is illegalcommitted by a criminal who, according to the current legislation, has no right to free of charge to seize the things of another citizen who has legal ownership of this property.
• Gratuity takes place when the guiltyAssigns ownership of another's property without reimbursement of its value or compensation acceptable to the second party in the form of barter or any services.
• Withdrawal involves the transfer of property or rightson it from the legal owner to another person without the consent of the first. As a result, the property fund of the owner is reduced, which is the fact of causing damage to his material condition. At the same time, the form of ownership (private, state) is not a significant factor in the qualification of theft.
• Damage in the form of a decrease in the assets of the victimplays an important role in the qualification of theft, it is its size that determines the form and severity of the offense. However, it should be noted that the amount of damage is established only in accordance with the illegally seized property, but not the lost profit associated with it. For example, if an employee has stolen some equipment from a company, he should return only the equipment or its cost, while the amount of damage will not include the amount of losses of the enterprise due to production downtime due to the absence of this unit of equipment.

Subject of theft

The concept and types of theft are closely related to the subject.theft, which can be any other people's property, illegally seized or appropriated by the criminal. The subject of the theft must combine three characteristics:

1. Physical properties - the subject of theft is materially outlined in space (that is, it is in a solid, liquid or gaseous state, animate or inanimate).
2. Legal aspect. Property must legally belong to someone.
3. The economic component means that the property has its value.

Forms and types of theft

Forms of theft are grouped in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation according to the methods and features of committing property crimes:

1. Theft (Art. 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
2. Fraud (Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
3. Waste or assignment (Art. 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
4. Robbery (Article 161 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
5. Robbery (Article 162 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Based on the amount of damage caused to the owner of the property, the criminal legislation of Russia identifies the following types of theft of another's property:

• Petty theft, the amount of damage which is not more than 1000 rubles.
• Theft, causing insignificant damage to the owner in the amount of from 1000 to 2500 rubles.
• Caused significant damage, the amount of which can reach up to 250,000 rubles.
• Large theft up to 1 million rubles.
• Particularly large types of theft - more than 1,000,000 rubles.

Theft

Theft - the secret appropriation of another's property,contrary to the law of the country. The basis of such a crime is the non-violent appropriation of material and non-material benefits that are alien to the perpetrator. In this case, the embezzlement is classified as secret only if the offender acted in the absence of the owner or being in the presence of the owner or other persons who did not give out their presence at the time of the crime. Subjects convicted of committing this offense may only be persons older than 14 years.

Robbery

Robbery is more dangerous than theft, fraud andwaste, since it involves the illegal seizure of property in the presence of the owner or other persons aware of the intentions of the offender. In turn, the perpetrator also sees the presence of the victims, but continues the offense, which, however, is non-violent. Moreover, robbery implies that the criminal initially wanted to commit precisely the open seizure of another's property. As violence can be the actions of the perpetrator in the direction of the victims or persons who have the opportunity to prevent the commission of robbery. These actions are violent in nature, but without significant danger to the life and health of eyewitnesses to the offense. Examples: physical pain, beating, imprisonment.

Robbery

Robbery - the most socially dangerous removal of someone elseproperty based on the forcible appropriation of property by others. The robber uses threats and violent acts that can be dangerous not only for the health of the victims, but also for their lives.

As an illegal act, the criminalcan use both a hidden and open attack on the owner of the property or another person in whose office it is located (for example, the watchman). It should be noted that the threat to the life and health of the victim is not the object of this form of theft and requires separate qualifications.

Fraud

Fraud - the theft of another's property and / orproperty rights by deception or abuse of trust of the owner. Active deception is a lie with which a fraudster misleads the owner about the transfer of property rights. It may manifest itself in the form of forged documents, which as a result transfer the property to the offender or the right to it without informing the owner. The abuse of the owner’s confidence also creates in him the illusion that the action is in his favor, and in fact leads to the fact that the owner, without knowing it, transfers the property to the fraudster. The only difference is that in this case the perpetrator acts on the basis of the trust of the property.

Examples of such situations are: non-return of debt or rental equipment, non-fulfillment of obligations by the contractor, etc.

Debauchery or appropriation

Растрата или присвоение отличаются от других форм theft by the fact that the transfer (withdrawal) of the right of ownership from the owner to the criminal does not occur, the guilty person only uses the right to dispose of the property entrusted to his department.

Spending involves the actual use (expenditure) of someone else's property, and appropriation - the illegal retention of property until the moment of its alienation.

Theft qualification and responsibility for their commission

The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation reveals not only the concept of theft, the formand types of theft, but also methods for their qualification, as well as measures for their suppression. Responsibility for property offenses can be of two types: administrative and criminal. The first is set for socially harmful offenses, qualified as minor types of theft. They can be carried out by theft, embezzlement or fraud, provided that the amount of damage does not exceed the average monthly salary of a citizen at the time of the crime. Criminal liability is incurred if socially dangerous types of theft were committed, the amount of damage from which exceeds the threshold of 5000 rubles.

Types of theft can be qualified not onlybased on the size of the damage suffered, but also taking into account the multiplicity of the offense by the same offender. Thus, petty theft of less than 5,000 rubles, but repeatedly committed, will be prosecuted not by administrative, but by criminal liability. On the other hand, the preventive measure in this case will be established as for petty theft committed many times, even if the amount of damage reaches the level of a large theft. An exception is the option when each subsequent crime is committed in the same way as the previous one, and the investigation establishes the intent of the offender to commit a large-scale seizure.