Novelty of criminal legislation on liability for looting (Article 356.1 of Criminal Code of the Russian Federation): technical and legal analysis of the structure of the crime

Abstract

The article analyses the structure of the norm on criminal liability for looting (Article 356.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). This norm is a novelty of the current domestic criminal legislation, in connection with which, in the author’s opinion, there are some shortcomings and technical gaps in it. The author gives a small retrospective analysis of the rule on responsibility for looting. When studying the composition of the crime in question, the author notes the excessive casuistics used by the legislator in the construction of the composition of looting. It is proposed to exclude the signs characterising theft from Part 1 of the article under study, as well as to exclude concretisation regarding the range of victims whose property may be stolen by a looter. The author considers it expedient to indicate in the disposition the rules on looting the features characterising: 1) extortion and 2) the place of commission of the crime, as the absence of these signs is a legal and technical error. A note to Article 356.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which contains quantitative characteristics of the damage caused to a person by looting actions, namely a large amount over 250 thousand rubles and a particularly large amount over one million rubles, also falls under the critical analysis. According to the author, these characteristics are overestimated and require adjustment, as the current norm will be «dead» due to the fact that it is difficult to imagine the amounts of money or other property fixed by the legislator that are with the victims of looting. In conclusion, the author proposes an amended version of the main composition of the looting rule.