Significant damage under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 167. Comment

Every citizen of the country should understand that for normal civilized living it is necessary to observe certain rules of behavior and be responsible for their actions. If a person commits a crime, then it will be solved and punished. This is an inevitable phenomenon, which allows us to say that every person in the country is protected by the state, or more precisely, by executive bodies, such as the police. In order for the perpetrator to be held liable for the crime committed, it is necessary to create an evidentiary basis, which, undoubtedly, will confirm the fact of his guilt or innocence.

One of the crimes is significant damage to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which was inflicted on the other side. The criminal offense is punishable by the fact that a significant material loss is inflicted on the injured party. This act art. 167 of the Criminal Code.

The Criminal Code, art.167

In order to understand what is at issue, we will consider what the article of the Criminal Code on the subject of crime says. What is the significant damage under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation?

The subject of the crime is the property of the other party (the defendant), the damage to which was, in fact, inflicted. That is, significant damage can be called not only the destruction, but also damage to the property of another citizen.

The crime subject must have a commodity value, that is, a price, it can be determined by an objective method. As for the conditions under which the crime was committed, they also matter. In the modern world, we are increasingly hearing about terrorist acts and vandalism, other relevant articles of the criminal code are defined for these conditions, which provide for a completely different punishment.

In order to have a clear distinction between the destruction of property and its damage, let us consider that the Criminal Code defines how the destruction of property and its damage.

Destruction of property

Destruction of property called criminal actions of a citizen, as a result of which the property of another person was rendered unusable, that is, it is not subject to repair and can not be used for the original purpose. Damage under such circumstances is "significant".

This article provides for punishment for persons from 16 or from 14 years. And there is no difference what prompted a person to commit this crime. Also, the article does not take into account the motive of the crime, unless this is yet another criminal act. In this case, you can give an example. The offender, in order to hide the theft, set fire to the house. Then he will be convicted of theft and property damage at the same time.

Damage or destruction of another's property

If a citizen as a result of illegal actions committed damage or damage to property that is owned by another citizen, it will be qualified under Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

What is the damage to property? Damage is the actions of the guilty person, which led to a partial loss of external data, performance characteristics. As a consequence, the damaged property needs repair, after which it is possible to restore its original purpose.

That is, if the destruction of property, even repair does not help, then in the case of damage after repair, the item can be used by the owner. But for the restoration of the subject it will be necessary to exert physical effort and financial investments, and also time is needed for this.

What punishment?

Art. 167 of the Criminal Code consists of two parts. According to Part 1, the person who turned 16 years old is punished for actions that resulted in the spoiling of another's property.

Part 2 of this article may punish persons who have attained the age of 14 years.

If the actions of the perpetrator are dealt with under Article 167 part 1, then the following punishment may be threatened:

• Fine up to 40 thousand rubles;
• A fine in the amount of wages or other income received by the perpetrator, in the amount of three months' income;
• Correctional work up to 360 hours;
• Correctional labor up to 12 months;
• Compulsory work up to two years;
• Arrest for up to 3 months;
• Deprivation of liberty up to 24 months.

If the perpetrator is tried under Article 167 part 2, he may be threatened with the following punishment:

• Compulsory correctional labor for up to 5 years;
• Imprisonment for up to 5 years.

Commentary on the article

The commentary to Article 167 says that Part 2 applies when the actions of the perpetrator or the perpetrators were committed on the grounds of hooliganism. Moreover, the destruction or damage to property is recognized as deliberate action. If in such a case a person is injured, this will be considered as an unintentional infliction of significant damage, harm to health.

Two sides of the crime

There are two sides to this crime - it is objective and subjective. The objective side is when deliberate actions were directed precisely at the fact that the property lost its economic and material value, which, in fact, happened.

Speaking about the subjective side, it should be noted that this may not be a purposeful action, but a disdainful attitude of a person to someone else's property, which entailed a complete or partial loss of tangible, economic and consumer value.

In order to understand more clearly how this can happen, we give the simplest example. The person deliberately decided to burn his own property, but as a result of the fire, other people's property was also destroyed. In this case, Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is applied.

Hooliganism

If the actions of the perpetrator are hooligan, then this implies the commission of a criminal act, which had no reason or reason was not significant. Hooliganism in this case is an act aimed at the deliberate destruction of property belonging to another person. The only purpose of the perpetrator is to bring anxiety to others, this is often done if the adolescents want to assert themselves in this way. Significant damage to an individual under art. 167 of the Criminal Code is punished, despite the fact that it caused the perpetrator to commit it.

If a person has not reached the age that can be held liable, then a parent or other person who represents the interests of the culprit will bear it for him. It can be a guardian. Article 167 is applicable in those situations where significant damage was caused to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Assessment of the significance of damage

In order for a criminal act to be classified under Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to prove that the amount of damage allows qualifying it as significant. Legislative acts do not give a clear distinction on this issue.

Significant damage to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is how much? It is only noted that the minimum amount of damage that can be qualified as "significant" can be the size of 2500 rubles. But all the same it can vary depending on what level of prosperity the victim has.

There is also no clear distinction as to the damage done to municipal or commercial enterprises. It would be wrong to say that "the damage done did not have a significant impact on the injured party." The law says that the significance of the damage caused should be determined only for an individual. Significant damage to an individual under art. 167 of the Criminal Code is defined in the minimum amount of 2,5 thousand rubles. This is the minimum amount that does not depend on the level of prosperity of the victim.

What damage is considered significant when it comes to an enterprise or organization? When causing damage to an organization or enterprise, the most important evaluation feature is the study of all the circumstances of the case in question. For such cases, it will be considered that the size of significant damage in terms of value will be in the range from 2500 to 250 000 rubles. In each situation, this factor should be assessed individually.