Problems of determining the mental element in crime under article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

¹ Saint Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Department of Legal Psychology, Saint Petersburg, Russia
² Saint Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Department of Special Events and Special Equipment, Saint Petersburg, Russia
³ Saint Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Department of Criminal Law, Saint Petersburg, Russia
⁴ Saint Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Department of Personnel Management and Educational Work, Saint Petersburg, Russia

^* Corresponding author: epifanov-mvd@mail.ru

Abstract

It should be mentioned that any particular traffic accident is most often a concurrence of a number of causes and factors associated with any of the subsystems “Driver – Car – Road – Environment”. As evidenced by judicial practice, crimes under Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are traditionally qualified by courts as committed in a careless form of guilt in the form of criminal flippancy. However, there may exist doubts about the correct assessment of the mental element in these crimes. The main question is if these crimes were intentional. The relevance of the study is conditional upon the need to develop a system of prevention of road traffic injuries and improve the effectiveness of measures to prevent them. The purpose of the study is to analyze theoretical problems and the results of empirical observation for road safety. This article is devoted to the relevant problem of accurate determination of the form of guilt in violation by the person driving the vehicle of road traffic regulations on the example of the analysis of the crime under Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of road traffic regulations and the rules of operation of vehicles.” In the preparation of the article, general scientific methods (dialectical, logical, socio-scientific method, method of system analysis) and interdisciplinary methods (sociological, statistical, method of the research of specific facts) were used. The novelty of the study is in an attempt to deeply analyze and interpret the practical application of the provisions of Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, identify the problem of accurate determination of the form of the guilt of the mentioned act committed by the person driving the vehicle when violating road traffic regulations or the rules operation of vehicles.