The offender is who? The criminal in the criminal procedure law

Any person will say that the criminal is the person who committed the crime. And what signs are characteristic for the criminal person? This will be discussed in this article.

The concept of the perpetrator

As in criminology, and in criminal law, the identity of the perpetrator has always remained a key problem. How can you characterize the person in question? A criminal is a person who has certain characteristics and traits that are criminal. At the same time, various disciplines and scientific directions treat the criminal personality in different ways. So, in criminal law this is a "subject of crime", in the criminal process - "accused", in a penal-correctional environment - "convicted".

It should be noted that each criminal has a certain legal status and responsibilities, which he vests in the court. As a rule, it is the duty to serve a sentence in correctional colonies.

To distinguish a criminal from the whole mass of people, you need to identify clear legal criteria. At the same time, these criteria must coincide with the fact of committing a crime.

Statistics

An offender in criminal law is always a person falling under a set of certain criteria. These criteria are worked out in accordance with special statistics developed by the Academy of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. What is indicated in the statistics?

It was proved that the total number of crimes is growing every year, and for the second decade already. However, these data are trying to refute the law enforcement agencies, confident in the opposite. The Academy nevertheless claims that in 2012 there were 25 million crimes; Law enforcement agencies also call the figure of 2.3 million. Despite the different data, both authorities are sure of one thing: the statistics helped to identify a number of certain characteristics characteristic of the criminal persons. All these signs constitute a single classification, necessary for studying lawyers, investigators, psychologists and other persons. It is about this classification and it is worth telling further.

Social and demographic features

What is meant by the social characteristics of the criminal? Here you can include the most common criteria applicable to all ordinary people: gender, marital status, age, level of working qualifications, place of residence, etc. All these seemingly simple signs best characterize absolutely any person. However, in the case of criminal persons, everything is the opposite.

As is known, a criminal is a person who has some deviations and "shifts" in physical or mental development. Social signs detected by a criminal person allow qualitatively to determine the level of deviation from the norm. Some scientists talk about the isolation of individual traits of the criminal's personality, according to which in the future it is possible to build more complete and complex statistics. In this case, we are talking about the system of social relations, the level of socialization of a particular criminal person. So, due to socio-demographic characteristics it is possible to build qualitatively typical portraits of potential violators of order.

Criminally-legal signs

Unlike social, criminal-legal signs are inherent only to persons accused of a particular crime. What exactly does this concern? It is worth highlight the following main elements:

• Motives that were in the person at the time of the crime;
• Form of guilt;
• The nature of the offense - group or single;
• The criminal past of a person, his biography, etc.

There are a number of special, non-traditional signs. They point not to a specific crime, but to the criminal's belonging to certain social groups. So, the offender can be a "thief in law", the leader of some community or an important representative person.

In all the above signs, the character, composition and form of the crime committed are best reflected. A criminal is a person who contains a lot of different contradictions and characteristics. That is why a competent analysis of his personality is possible only with the use of criminal legal signs.

Psychological and Moral Signs

An offender in criminal procedure law, in criminal law or in criminology is always an absolutely ordinary person who has a certain motivational and needful sphere, certain interests, views, beliefs and character traits. Representatives of relevant bodies are obliged to analyze competently the intellectual, strong-willed and emotional spheres of the criminal person. What is it for? First of all, in order to identify the main elements of human degradation. Due to the revealed moral and psychic signs it is possible to determine the probability of degradation of a person. What signs are revealed first? Here you can include:

• intelligence;
• Interests, habits and abilities;
• Value orientations, outlook, views;
• Volitional properties and some other elements.

Thus, a criminal is exactly the same as any other person. However, certain deviations greatly affect the personality, resulting in the formation of criminal motives.

Physiological signs

A criminal is a person who, as a rule, has certain deviations in physical or mental development. Naturally, such a statement is not always true. However, in most cases, the motives of criminal acts form precisely certain deviations and deviations from the norm. We have already mentioned psychic signs above, now it is worth pointing to the physiological signs. What can be distinguished here:

• Illness, abnormal physical constitution;
• Congenital or acquired defects;
• Chronic diseases, etc.

All these moments have a strong influence on the human psyche. A consequence of a painful condition may be insufficient socialization, problems in work or study, various kinds of social barriers. Naturally, all these factors can not but affect the person's personality. As a rule, a person develops for himself certain motives that push him to commit criminal acts.