Debating issues of qualification of hooliganism

Abstract

This article is devoted to debatable issues of qualification of hooliganism. The author analyzes the changes made to Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which regulates responsibility for hooliganism, and the practice of its application. The article deals with the problem of distinguishing between hooliganism and crimes committed out of hooligan motives: the author comes to the conclusion that these crimes are distinguished according to the signs of the objective side. The article also touches upon the problem of qualification of hooliganism committed with the use of violence in conjunction with crimes against health: the author comes to the conclusion that when solving this problem, it is necessary to be guided by the rule of competition between the part and the whole. In accordance with this rule, the norm providing for criminal liability for hooliganism covers beatings and intentional infliction of minor bodily harm, therefore, the relevant articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation should not be imputed in conjunction with Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The article analyzes the problem of distinguishing between hooliganism on railway, sea, inland water or air transport, as well as on any other public transport (paragraph 1 of article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and actions committed out of hooligan motives that threaten safety operation of vehicles (Article 267.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The author comes to the conclusion that the main problems associated with the qualification of hooliganism are caused by legislative errors in the construction of this criminal law norm.

References

1. Ivantsova, N. (2004). The prospect of hooliganism — its decriminalization.Legality, 11, pp. 40–42 (in Russ.).

2. Kudryavtsev, V.N. (2004). General theory of qualification of crimes. Moscow (in Russ.).

3. Kuznetsova, N.F. (2007). Problems of qualification of crimes: Lectures on the special course “Fundamentals of qualification of crimes”. Moscow (in Russ.).