On the Expediency of Introducing Criminal Responsibility for Inciting Suicide or Assisting Suicide: a Critical Analysis and Suggestions for Improving the Law

Abstract

In this article, the author examines the issues of historical, social and legal conditionality of introducing criminal liability for inciting suicide or assisting suicide in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, analyzes the objective signs of the main offenses, including from the point of view of using legal techniques. A comparative study of methods of inciting suicide (Article 110 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and inducing or facilitating suicide (110.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is being carried out. The problems of correct qualification and differentiation of the specified components of crimes are revealed, as a result of which the problems of law enforcement activities are critically assessed. When writing a scientific work, the author used dialectical, logical, statistical, hermeneutic, formal legal, historical and legal research methods. The degree of study of the problems raised in the article is represented by scientific research of such figures of law as Ustinova T.D., Artyushina O.A., Filippova S.V., Eliseeva N.M. and others. Based on the results of the study, the author comes to conclusions about the spontaneous nature of the adoption of legislative amendments to the criminal law, the insufficient elaboration of the provisions in terms of the rules of legal technique. It is concluded that the differentiation of competing elements of criminal acts occurs according to the signs of the objective side, namely, based on the method of committing illegal acts. The novelty of the study is expressed in the author's proposals for reforming and improving the criminal law regulation of the crimes in question. Based on the results of the analysis, the author of this study proposes to reform the existing version of Article 110.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, providing for changes that will make it possible to more effectively apply these provisions of the law in practice.