A criminal case is the highest-paid and most complicated category of cases at the same time. Not every person in the position to practice law engages in cases tried in compliance with the rules of the criminal code and criminal procedure code because criminal offenses mainly call for responsibility in the shape of incarceration for a long period. Nevertheless, our criminal law attorney is always ready to engage in even the most complicated cases and provide qualified assistance in resolving any issues connected with trying criminal cases.
The Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine stipulates the order of opening, trying, ruling on, and closing of the criminal proceedings. The Criminal Code of Ukraine provides for the list of socially dangerous acts that meet the criteria of a criminal offense. Only given the set of particular features stipulated in the Criminal Code, one or another deed can be classified as a criminal offense (misdemeanor or crime). Such features are:
- social danger;
- culpability;
- wrongfulness and punishability.
And the combination of the features stipulated in the criminal legislation, given which an actually committed socially dangerous act can be recognized as the criminal, makes for the components of the criminal offense that is the reason to bring a person to criminal responsibility.
The criminal offense consists of the following elements:
- the object of the criminal offense;
- the objective side of the crime;
- the subject of the criminal offense;
- the mental element of the criminal offense.
The object of the criminal offense is the benefit harmed or the emergence of the tangible threat of such harm. For instance, the object of the “Theft” crime is the property right, and of the “Intentional homicide” – the life of a person.
The objective side of the crime is a combination of the features that outline a socially dangerous act, negative consequences, and causal connection between such actions or lack thereof and the consequences. For instance, the fact of the crime called the “Brigandage” is defined as the attack coupled with violence that endangers the life or health of the person who suffered the attack, or with a threat to commit such violence.
The subject of the criminal offense is a criminally sane private person that has committed a crime at the age at which he or she can be held criminally liable. The age of the criminal responsibility is sixteen. However, the Criminal Code contains the list of the crimes, for which the age of the criminal responsibility is fourteen.
The mental element of the criminal offense is guilt, motive, goal, and the emotional state of the person, that is, the combination of the features that characterize the attitude of the person to the act committed or lack thereof.
Should an investigator or a prosecutor establish the signs of a criminal offense, the criminal proceedings begin. The first action within them is to enter the information about the criminal offense into a Single Register of Pre-trial Investigations.
All criminal proceedings consist of the following stages:
- pre-trial investigation;
- preliminary procedure;
- court trial;
- proceedings in the court of appeal (appeal proceedings);
- execution of the resolution of the court;
- proceedings in the court of cassation (cassation proceedings).
The law enforcement authorities make numerous procedural mistakes at every stage of the criminal proceedings that often lead to the violation of the rights of the person brought to justice, and at times contribute to making knowingly illegal rulings.
Our legal firm is always ready to come to your rescue when a criminal case is opened and in the resolution of even the most complicated issues dealing with the application of the criminal legislation norms. However, we believe it makes more sense to prevent illegal actions of the law enforcement authorities connected to bringing a person to the criminal responsibility, and to that end, we advise you to turn to our team of attorneys – professionals in the criminal cases field, who are ready to answer your questions or come to provide legal aid at any time.