LEGAL SIGNS OF MURDER CRIMES IN THE PENAL CODE OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

ABSTRACT

The 2015 Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, amended and supplemented in 2017, stipulates the types of murder crimes including: Article 123: Crime of murder, Article 124: Crime of killing or abandoning a newborn child, Article 125: Crime of murder murder in a highly agitated mental state and Article 126: Crime of murder due to exceeding the limits of legitimate defense or due to exceeding the necessary level when arresting the offender. In this article, the authors have introduced and analyzed the legal signs of this type of crime, including: the object of the crime of murder, the objective side of the crime of murder, the subjective side of the crimemurder, the subject of the crime of murder.

АННОТАЦИЯ

Уголовный кодекс Социалистической Республики Вьетнам 2015 года, измененный и дополненный в 2017 году, определяет виды преступлений, связанных с убийством, в том числе: статья 123: Преступление убийства, статья 124: Преступление убийства или оставления новорожденного ребенка, статья 125: Преступление убийство в состоянии сильного возбужденного психического состояния и статья 126: Убийство вследствие превышения пределов законной обороны или превышения необходимой степени при задержании преступника. В данной статье авторы представили и проанализировали правовые признаки данного вида преступлений, в том числе: объект преступления убийства, объективную сторону преступления убийства, субъективную сторону преступления убийства, предмет преступления. преступление убийства.

Keywords: Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Penal Code, crime, murder, the object, the objective side, the subject.

Ключевые слова: Социалистическая Республика Вьетнам, Уголовный кодекс, преступление, убийство, объект, объективная сторона, субъект.

The crime of murder is a dangerous act for society as stipulated in the Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, intentionally committed by a person with criminal liability, unlawfully taking the life of another person, and must be punished, criminal justice. The 2015 Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, amended and supplemented in 2017 includes the following articles: Article 123 (Crime of murder), Article 124 (Crime of killing or throwing away a newborn child), Article 125 (Crime of murder while in a state of the spirit is strongly agitated) and Article 126 (Crime of murder due to exceeding the limits of legitimate defense or due to exceeding the necessary level when arresting the offender). Murder crimes all share the same legal signs including: The object of the murder crime, the objective side of the murder crime, the subjective side of the murder crime, the subject of the murder crime.

First,the object of murder crimes. The object of murder crimes is personal relationships whose content is the right to respect and protect human life. Among personal rights, the right to life, the right to respect and protect human life are the most natural, sacred and noble rights, no other rights can be compared. It is for the above reasons that the goal of protecting the right to life, the right to respect and protecting human life is always given top priority. Also because of the particularly important meaning of the right to life, the right to respect and protect human life, in the Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnams from 1985 to present, right after crimes of infringing on national security, lawmakers have stipulates the crime of murder. This further affirms that the right to life, the right to respect and protect human life is truly sacred and noble, and needs to be absolutely protected. Anyone who violates the right to life, the right to respect and protect human life must be severely punished.

Second, the objective side of murder crimes. The objective act of murder can be committed through action or inaction. The act of committing murder is a form of objective behavior that changes the normal condition of the object of the crime, causing damage to the object of the crime - the right to life, the right to be respected and protected human life, through the subject doing something prohibited by law.

To correctly determine the crime, the authors  need to distinguish these two crimes through the following basic criteria: 1) if the victim died due to a life-threatening condition, then murder is defined when the person commits the crime for the purpose of murder wanting or consciously leaving the fatal consequences to occur, intentionally placing the victim in a life-threatening situation. The crime of failing to help a person whose life is in danger is when the offender only unintentionally causes a situation that is dangerous to the victim's life, and the offender did not previously commit any intentional acts, violate the victim's life or health; 2) if the victim's death was not due to a life-threatening condition but was caused by the intentional act of the offender, then the person who committed the act of intentionally causing the victim's death can only commit the crime killing someone without committing a crime and not helping someone whose life is in danger. Consequencesof the crime of murder is the damage caused by the crime of murder to personal relationships, to the right to life, to the right to respect and protect human life. This damage is expressed in the form of physical damage - other deadly consequences.

Cause and effect relationship between behavior and consequences. The objective act of murder is considered the cause of another fatal consequence if three conditions are met: 1) The act occurs before the consequence in time; 2) The act independently or in combination with one or more other phenomena must contain a realistic possibility of giving rise to other fatal consequences. This ability is the ability to directly change the normal condition of the object affected by the crime; 3) The other deadly consequence that has occurred must be the actual realization of the actual possibility of giving rise to the consequences of the objective act of murder or the direct possibility of changing the normal condition of the subject. In fact, it is very difficult to determine whether murder is the cause of a fatal outcome, because when an outcome occurs, it does not just come from one cause but can be due to many other causes each, but all acts that create the above causes are criminally responsible for the crime of murder. Correctly determining the cause of death not only helps the prosecuting agencies clarify the issue of whether murder occurred or not, but can also conclude who committed the act.

Third, the subjective side of murder crimes. The fault of the person committing murder can be direct intentional fault or indirect intentional fault. According to the provisions of Article 10 of the 2015 Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the direct intentional murder is an error in cases where the offender is clearly aware that his or her behavior is dangerous to society, is likely or inevitable to cause the victim's death, but still wants the victim to die. The offense of indirect intentional murder is an offense in cases where the offender is clearly aware that his or her behavior is dangerous to society and may cause the victim's death. Although he does not want it, he still consciously lets it or accepts it. As a result, the victim died. Studying the guilt of the murderer helps distinguish the crime of murder from the crime of unintentional killing. If the fault of the person committing murder is intentional (both with the act of causing the death of the victim and the consequences of the victim's death), then the fault of the offender of unintentionally causing death is only an unintentional fault (inadvertent in both the act that causes the victim's death and the consequences of the victim's death).

Judicial practice shows that to correctly determine the crime, the authors  need to distinguish these two crimes through the following basic criteria: If the offender's fault and the victim's death were intentional, the crime is murder. This is the case where the offender is fully aware that his act could cause the victim's death but still commits it because he wants the victim to die or accepts the consequences of the victim's death. If the offender's fault for the victim's death is unintentional, then the crime of negligent homicide can be charged. This is a case where the offender not only did not want the fatal consequences to occur, nor did he have the attitude of “indifferently letting those consequences happen, but also did not foresee the consequences that should have happene see or can see or even foresee a possible consequence, but subjectively believe in a specific condition that will prevent the consequence from occurring”. In addition to its significance in determining the crime, determining the correct form of error also has important significance in deciding the penalty. Because, in the case of murder with indirect intention, the offender's concern is not directed at the consequences of killing another person but is directed at another purpose. Therefore, everything that happens to the victim as a result of the crime may have no impact on the offender.

However, in some criminal constitutions, the objective aspect also requires signs of behavior causing the death of another person, but signs of motive or criminal purpose are specified as mandatory signs, so the Determining the correct motive and purpose of the crime will help determine the correct crime, determine the correct penalty frame and distinguish the crime of murder from some other crimes that also intentionally cause the death of the victim. Specifically: 1) Anyone who intentionally causes the death of another person to oppose the people's government must be criminally responsible for the crime of terrorism aimed at opposing the people's government (Article 113); If the intention is not to oppose the people's government, then one must be criminally responsible for murder; 2) Any person who, while performing official duty, intentionally causes the death of another person, out of the motive of performing official duty, shall be criminally responsible for the crime of causing death while performing official duty (Article 127); If it is due to arrogance, disregard for the lives of others or personal vendetta, then one must be criminally responsible for murder;3) Any person who intentionally causes the death of a victim in a highly agitated mental state due to the victim's serious illegal acts towards that person or towards that person's relatives must be held responsible. criminal liability for murder in a highly agitated mental state (Article 125); If the above conditions are not met, then will be criminally responsible for murder; 4) Any person who, in order to protect the interests of the State, an organization, or the legitimate rights and interests of themselves or others, intentionally causes the death of a person who is clearly violating the above interests clearly exceeding the necessary level does not commit murder but commits murder due to exceeding the limits of legitimate defense or exceeding the necessary level when arresting criminals (Article 126).

Fourth, the subject of the crime of murder: is a human being who is at fault when committing acts dangerous to society. Based on the relationship between age and criminal liability capacity, Vietnam's Criminal Law stipulates that the age of criminal responsibility for murder is 14 years old. Once that age is reached, people will have the capacity for criminal liability, except in special cases of mental and physiological abnormalities - cases that the Criminal Law considers to be in a state of incapacity criminal liability, including those suffering from mental illness or another illness that causes loss of cognitive ability or the ability to control one's behavior. Thus, the subject of the crime of murder can be any person 14 years of age or older, capable of criminal responsibility, even in the stage of preparing to commit the crime (except for the crime of killing or abandoning a newborn child).

Aggravating circumstances of murder crimes.

The 2015 Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam added Clause 3, Article 123 of the Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which stipulates: People who prepare to commit murder shall be sentenced to imprisonment from 01 year to 05 years. Preparing to commit murder means finding, preparing tools, means or creating other conditions to commit the crime or forming or joining a group of murderers.

Accordingly, Article 124 of the 2015 Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam stipulates “The crime of killing or abandoning a newborn child” with the indicate: Any mother who, under the heavy influence of backward thinking in special objective circumstances, kills her own child. If she gives birth within 7 days of age, she will be punished... Any mother who, due to the heavy influence of outdated ideology or under special objective circumstances, throws away her child who gives birth within 7 days of age, leading to the child's death, shall be fined…”. The law was amended to codify international conventions to which Vietnam is a member to better protect human health, dignity, and honor.

At the same time, Article 126, Crime of murder due to exceeding the limits of legitimate defense or due to exceeding the necessary level when arresting the offender. The provisions of the law have expanded the subject not only in legitimate defense but also in the arrest of criminals. In the composition of aggravating framing in Clause 1, Article 123 does not stipulate additional aggravating circumstances, but has internalized legal documents such as: Killing 02 or more people (point a, Clause 1, Article 123). Murder of 2 or more people is a case where the offender intentionally causes the death of 2 or more other people in an illegal manner. The offender in this case intends to kill 2 or more people or consciously abandons and accepts the consequences of 2 or more deaths. If the offender consciously neglects and accepts the fatal consequences (indirect intentional fault), there must be 2 or more deaths for this aggravating circumstance to apply. If 02 people die, but 02 people die due to the offender's unintentional fault, it is not considered multiplemurder but is a case of committing two crimes: “Crime of murder” and “Crime of unintentionally causing death”. If 02 people die, but only 01 person falls into the case specified in Article 123 of the Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and the other person falls into the case of being in a highly agitated mental state or due to exceeding the limit of legitimate defense or falling into the case of In case of killing someone while performing official duties, the crime of killing 2 or more people will not be determined, but depending on each specific case, the offender will be prosecuted for criminal liability for murder and another crime in a highly agitated mental state or killing someone due to exceeding the limits of legitimate defense.... Murder of a person under 16 years old (point b, clause 1, Article 123). This regulation not only aims to severely punish those who commit acts of killing children, contributing to preventing the increasing violation of children's lives, but also to ensure the implementation of the provisions of the Convention international organizations that the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam participates in or signs with on the protection and care of children. In some components of aggravated crimes, the subjects of the crimes does murder require special signs, such as point, clause 1, Article 123: “murder by taking advantage of profession”, the offender must be a person with a profession and have taken advantage of his profession to kill someone.

References:

1. Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 2013// URL: https://worldconstitutions.ru/?p=26  (date of application 22.05.2024)
2. Criminal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 2015 // URL: https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/legislation/details/17225 (date of application 22.05.2024)
3. Criminal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 2015, amendments and additions in 2017// URL:  https://www.policinglaw.info/assets/downloads/2015_Criminal_Code_of_Vietnam (date of application 22.05.2024)
4. Criminal Procedure Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 2015, amendments and additions in 2021// URL: https://wtocenter.vn/chuyen-de/20511-law-no-022021qh15-amending-the-criminal-procedure-code (date of application 22.05.2024)