SUBJECTIVE ATTITUDE OF A PERSON TO A CRIME AND PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL LAW

Abstract

The publication is focused on the attempt of theoretical grounding of the place obtained by the requirement of obligatory consideration of the subjective attitude of a person to the features of committed crime within the system of principles of criminal law of Ukraine. To achieve this objective, the author has applied the dialectical method, the dogmatic (formal and legal) method, as well as analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction. The established approaches to determining the range of principles of criminal law of Ukraine have been studied. Particular attention has been paid to the prevalence of the existence of such a principle as the “principle of guilt” in interpretations of various specialists. This principle is also known as the “principle of guilty liability”. The correlation between the criminal principle of guilt and the criminal procedural presumption of innocence has been critically analyzed.It has been established that the principle of guilt in criminal law is complex. It includes such elements as the legislative definition of guilt (the Art. 23 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), the differentiation of guilt into forms and types (intent and its types, negligence and its types), the possibility to blame a person for only those socially dangerous consequences (the main and qualifying characteristics of corpus delicti of the committed crime), which were within a certain subjective attitude defined by law (intent or negligence), determining the severity of a particular crime depending on the content and degree of guilt, exclusion of criminal liability of a person for damage that was not covered (and could not be covered) by its subjective attitude. This principle also implies a compulsory presence of understanding (awareness as a result of heuristic, appraisal activity) of certain circumstances (nature and social content of the action or omission, properties of the object, specific features of the victim, awareness of certain norms or rules, etc.) by the subject before and during the commission of a crime.