Experience of some countries of the former Soviet Union on the use of the concept of "awareness" in the general parts of the criminal codes

Abstract

In the article, within the framework of preparation of the dissertation on the topic: "The concept of awareness under the criminal law of Ukraine'" summarizes the experience of some countries of the former Soviet Union on the use of the concept of "awareness" in the general parts of the criminal codes.

It has been established that in the Criminal Code of Georgia the majority of cases of awareness is used in a single sense (full awareness of the subject of the crime of the relevant objective features), but we have also recorded several cases of deviation from this value, which testifies to the violation of the principle of unity of legal terminology. In general, in the Criminal Code of Georgia, the sign of awareness in most cases refers to the characteristics of the victim of the crime (usually age and condition). However, this issue revealed some inconsistency in the rules, which provide for several special victims at once (for example, the awareness concerns a victim of a criminal offense - a pregnant woman, but does not extend to a minor).

Unlike the Criminal Code of Ukraine and the law on criminal liability of the Republic of Azerbaijan discussed above, the legislator of the Republic of Belarus has fixed the definition of this feature at the legislative level, which is undoubtedly a major advantage of this regulatory act.

In the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, as in the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic, the notion of deliberately illegal (Article 40 of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic) and deliberately criminal orders (Article 117 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan) are also found. This decision of the legislator to a certain extent violates the principle of the unity of legal terminology, which, in our opinion, would be advisable to choose a single term (for example, "illegal", because it has a wider meaning).

In the Criminal Code of Belarus the sign of awareness is quite widespread. A significant advantage of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus is the existence of a legislative definition of the concept of awareness. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the provisions of a given legislative act are consciously used in that sense and relate to such features as a socially dangerous act, an object of a crime or a victim of a crime.