Some problems of criminal responsibility for theft (retrospective and modernity)

Relevance, task. The level of relevance and scientific and practical significance of criminal-legal and criminological problems of countering property crimes in our country is conditioned by negative quantitative indicators. Criminological data show that property crime prevails in the overall structure of crime at the national level, of which theft swells a significant proportion. Internationally, our country occupies one of the highest places about the number of recorded thefts per 100,000 people. The composition of property crimes and criminal responsibility for the commission of attacks on other people's property, including theft, are provided in Chapter 21 «Crimes against property» of the Criminal code of the Russian Federation. The scientific article presents the results of a comparative legal analysis of the above-mentioned criminal law and the former Criminal code of the RSFR of 1960, the study of scientific literature, international legal documents, official documents of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, random expert surveys of scientific and educational workers from among criminal law specialists and law enforcement officers. This has revealed a number of criminal problems on liability for property crimes, which have led to the formulation of some theoretical conclusions and legislative proposals. Conclusions and suggestions. Taking into account the current and past legislative experience that took place in the Criminal code of the RSFSR of 1960, international legal acts, decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the study of the opinions of experts in the field of criminal law theory and the practice of its application in a scientific article, some conclusions are formulated. For example, the unreasonableness of legislative decisions to establish significant differences in the regulation of criminal responsibility for theft depending on the form of ownership of stolen property, the inadmissibility of repeating legislative errors when in accordance with art. 93.1 the Criminal code of the RSFSR 1960 for theft on a particularly large scale was provided for the penalty of capital punishment - the death penalty, the unreasonable recognition of property as the object of theft and other property crimes, because their property is not harmed, the victim does not lose ownership of stolen property. In addition to the article, the draft proposals for the legal nature of the law on the exclusion of the death penalty from the current criminal law, on amendments to the title of the chapter «Crime against property», setting it out in the next edition: «Property crimes».

criminal law, property crimes, theft, punishment, imprisonment, death penalty, international legal acts, Constitutional Court