Russian Journal of Economics and Law (Sep 2015)
ON THE ISSUE OF CRIMINAL-LEGAL PROTECTION OF LIFE OF A NEWBORN BABY
Abstract
Objective: basing on the study of criminal legislation and practice of its application in criminal cases of murder by mother of the newborn child to assess the validity of fixing in Article 106 of the Criminal code of the Russian Federation signs that allow to include the specified offence of a privileged group, as well as the possibility of the release of guilty in connection with reconciliation with the victim.Methods: the basis of research is universal dialectic method of cognition, historical and formal-legal methods, and special and private law research methods, including criminal-statistical method of documents analysis (more than 60 sentences by the Russian courts in 2010-2014).Results: the historical-legal analysis shows that only in the current criminal law homicide of a newborn child by the mother is classed among the privileged crimes. However, the circumstances, determined by the legislator as crime mitigating, arouse discussion and criticism. The study of the law enforcement practice shows that in all mothers found guilty under Article 106 of the Criminal Code, the goal to get rid of the child was formed long before birth-giving, the murder was cold-bloodedly planned and executed with great cynicism. The authors substantiate the conclu- sion that the signs, that reduce the risk of the homicide of a newborn by the mother, should include only traumatic situation and the mother’s state of mental disorder, not excluding sanity. The paper also substantiates the proposal for a legislative ban on the termination of criminal prosecution due to reconciliation with the victim in criminal cases, the consequence of which is death of a person.Scientific novelty: basing on the analysis of judicial practice, the socio-demographic characteristics of women is proposed who were convicted under Article 106 of the Criminal Code, together with aggregate materials on the criminal-legal measures applied to perpetrators. The paper for- mulates proposals and recommendations on improvement of the Article 106 of the Criminal Code, the implementation of which will ensure the criminal-legal protection of the life of babies.Practical significance: the theoretical findings formulated in the study can be used in the research activities on further investigation of the con- sidered crime, and the implementation of proposals aimed at improving the legislation will ensure the inevitability of criminal responsibility of mothers, who deprived their newborn children of their lives, as well as the differentiation of criminal prosecution of women whose goal to get rid of the child was formed long before birth-giving, and the murder was cold-bloodedly planned, and those who deprived the newborn of life, being in a psycho-traumatic situation or in a state of mental disorder, not excluding sanity.
