Text 3. The Corpus Delicti of a Crime

A crime is understood as a socially dangerous act (or omission) directed against the social and state system, the system of economy, property and other rights of citizens or any other act infringing law and order which is defined in criminal legislation as dangerous to society.

Criminal legislation states that there can be no criminal responsibility where the nature of the act is not socially dangerous. In consequence, criminal law does not regard as a crime an act or omission which, even if formally containing features of some act covered by criminal law, does not constitute a danger to society on account of its triviality.

Each crime consists of a number of individual elements. Those elements characterize the purpose of a criminal act, the form and method of a crim­inal action, the character of a criminal act and so forth. The total sum of elements defining a specific crime comprises what is known as the corpus delicti of a crime. The corpus delicti in any act is grounds for establishing criminal responsibility against the offender. A person may not be consid­ered guilty of having committed a crime unless several elements of corpus delicti of that crime have been established in his acts. In the absence of any element of corpus delicti in the acts of the accused, criminal proceedings may not be instituted, and if instituted, may not be continued, and must be stopped at any stage. In pronouncing its sentence the court must above all answer these questions: a) did the act ascribed to the accused actually take place? b) does it contain corpus delicti? c) was the act performed by the accused?

The object of a crime is, under criminal law, social relations guarded by criminal legislation. This means that all crimes prescribed by the Criminal Code are ultimately aimed against the social relations taking shape and de­veloping in society. However, each crime has an immediate object. Thus, murder has its immediate object - human life, theft - state, collective or per­sonal property; hooliganism - public law and order, etc.

A crime may be committed by an act, i.e. the active behaviour of a person, or persons, or by an omission, i.e. the non — performance of acts which it was his duty to perform (such as failure to use authority).

The subject of a crime is a person who commits the crime and is responsi­ble for it. Only persons who have attained a certain age and are compos mentis can be the subject of a crime. Persons who have reached the age of 16 before the commission of a crime are criminally responsible; for some crimes (murder, deliberate infliction of bodily injury impairing health, brigandage, stealing, robbery, hooliganism with evil intent, etc.) the age is 14 years.

Actually, the age limit for some crimes (committed by persons in office in their official capacity, military crimes, etc.) is considerably higher.

A person who, at the time of the commission of a socially dangerous act, is non-compos mentis, i.e. is unable to account for his actions or to govern them in consequence of chronic mental disease, temporary mental derangement weak-mindedness or some other morbid state, is not criminally responsible. Compulsory medical treatment as established by the criminal legislation of the state (placing in a general or special mental hospital) may be applied to such a person by a court order.

A person who, at the time of the commission of a crime, is compos men­tis but, before a sentence is passed by the court, is affected by mental derangement, is not liable to punishment. By an order of the court com­pulsory medical treatment may be applied to such a person and on recov­ery from his illness he may be liable to punishment. A person committing a crime while in a state of drunkenness is not relieved of criminal respon­sibility.

Задание 1

Соотнесите слово на английском языке с его русским переводом

guilty	возраст уголовной ответственности
a socially dangerous act	уголовный процесс
sentence	приговор
by order of the court	виновен
omission	социально опасное деяние
criminal proceeding	правопорядок
property rights	нанесение телесных повреждений
the accused	имущественные права
age limit	бездействие, невыполнение
law and order	наказание
punishment	государственное имущество
state property	обвиняемый
on account of	по решению суда
infliction of bodily injury	по причине

Задание 2

Закончите предложения

1) A crime is a socially dangerous act directed against…	a )criminally responsible
2) Corpus delicti of a crime is the sum of elements which characterize...	b) non-compos mentis
3) A person who commits a crime and is responsible for it is ...	c) social system, state system, property, system of economy
4) A person who is ... at the time of commission of a crime is not liable to punishment.	d) the subject of crime
5) People who have attained a certain age and are compos mentis are...	e) the purpose of criminal act, the form of criminal action, method of a criminal action

Задание 3

Изучите блок-схему, переведите ее письменно на русский язык

Задание 4

Выполните упражнение на соответствие

an arsonist	attacks and robs people, often in the street
a shop-lifter	sets fire to property illegally
a mugger	is anyone who breaks the law
an offender	breaks into houses or other buildings to steal
a vandal	steals from shops while acting as an ordinary customer
a burglar	kills someone
a murderer	deliberately causes damage to property
a kidnapper	steals things from people' s pockets in crowded places
a pickpocket	gets secret information from another country
an accomplice	buys and sells drags illegally
a drug dealer	takes away people by force and demands money for their return
a spy	helps a criminal in a criminal act
a terrorist	uses violence for political reasons
an assassin	causes damage or disturbance in public places
a hooligan	hides on a ship or plane to get a free journey
a stowaway	takes control of a plane by force and makes the pilot change course
a thief	murders for political reasons or a reward
a hijacker	is someone who steals
a forger	makes counterfeit (false) money or signatures
a robber	is a member of a criminal group
a smuggler	steals money, etc. by force from people or places
a traitor	marries illegally, being married already
a gangster	is a soldier who runs away from the army
a deserter	brings goods into a country illegally without paying tax
a bigamist	illegally carries drags into another country
drug smuggler	betrays his or her country to another state

Задание 5

Переведите письменно на русский язык

A crime is an illegal act which may result in prosecution and punishment by the state if the accused is convicted. Generally, in order to be convicted of a crime, the accused must be shown to have committed an unlawful act with a criminal state of mind.

Criminal legislation states that there can be no criminal responsibility where the nature of the act is not socially dangerous. In consequence, criminal law does not regard as a crime an act or omission which, even if formally containing features of some act covered by criminal law, does not constitute a danger to society on account of its triviality.