Any committed crime entailsimmediate reaction on the part of the state, which manifests itself in the use of certain criminal legal instruments against the guilty subject, leading to an offensive for the latter consequences of an unfavorable nature.
Sanction of criminal law - concept
In modern criminal law under the sanctionunderstand one of the criminal-legal norms of the elements forming the body in which this or that variety is determined, as well as the amount of punishment applied to the subject who committed the deed provided for by the disposition of the said legal rule. In addition, the sanction serves as a kind of indicator of the degree of public danger inherent in a particular tort, which is prohibited by criminal legislation.
Classification of criminal sanctions
In modern criminal law, the classification of punishments is carried out according to the degree of their certainty. Based on this principle, distinguish such basic types of sanctions in criminal law as:
- absolutely certain;
- absolutely indefinite;
- relatively definite;
- alternative.
The main species: absolutely certain and uncertain
So, let us consider in more detail what are the types of sanctions used in criminal law, with examples characterizing their features.
Sanctions bearing the nameabsolutely definite, they establish both the only possible type of punishment and its exact size and, thus, exclude the possibility of making the choice of punishment. For example, imprisonment for life, a fine of a strictly defined size, the death penalty. Such sanctions in the current criminal law do not apply, since they do not imply any individualization of punishment in relation to the immediate circumstances of the tort and personal characteristics of the offender.
Such types of penalties in criminal law asabsolutely indefinite, do not establish the type and amount of punishment, but only contain such non-specific wording as: “apply the punishment to the fullest extent of the law”, “is punished according to the laws of wartime”, etc. In modern criminal law, this type of sanctions is not reasonably used, since their presence entails a high probability of judicial arbitrariness and violation of the fundamental principle of justice.
The main types of sanctions in criminal law: alternative and relatively certain
Punishments for specific crimes mayconsider all the conditions and causes of violation of the law. Such types of sanctions in criminal law, as relatively defined, provide for a specific type of punishment and determine either its minimum and maximum limits, or any one of them. Based on this principle, these sanctions, in turn, can be divided into:
- Устанавливающие максимальную величину наказания, for example, the standards enshrined in Part 1 of Art. 228 of the Criminal Code, provides for the application of such a measure as imprisonment for a period of up to three years to the perpetrator of a particular tort.
- Setting the minimum and maximumthe amount of punishment. For example, the provisions fixed in Part 1 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code, it is intended to apply to the guilty subject of such a measure as imprisonment for a term ranging from six to fifteen years.
Other types of sanctions (alternative)establish the possibility of applying for committing a tort two or more varieties of punishment, which allows the judicial authority in each particular case, in accordance with the characteristics of the tort and the identity of the guilty subject, to impose a punishment as appropriate as possible to the degree and nature of the offense. For example, the provisions contained in Part 1 of Art. 213 of the Criminal Code, provides for the application to the guilty subject or a fine, or correctional work, or imprisonment.
Other types of sanctions
Besides the above, it also makes sensemention also these types of penalties in criminal law - reference and cumulative. As for the former, these sanctions do not impose a penalty for committing the tort, but contain a reference to the sanction of any other article of the criminal law. Currently, this kind of punishment is not used in the current criminal law.
Sanctions, called cumulative, establishthe possibility of applying to the guilty subject in addition to the principal and punishment of an additional nature, which can be both mandatory and optional. For example, the application to the guilty subject of punishment, providing for the deprivation of the last liberty for a specific period while simultaneously depriving them of the right to occupy a number of certain posts for a corresponding number of years.
So, having considered all the abovevarieties of sanctions that are applied in modern criminal law, you can see that the latter, being an instrument of criminal law regulation, are designed to guarantee adequate protection of state public and personal interests from all sorts of criminal encroachments, as well as to ensure the inevitability of punishment while maintaining the principles of legality and justice .
