Criminal offense as criminal-legal feature of a victim

It is indicated that the Criminal Code of Ukraine, in contrast to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, lacks a legal definition of such an important feature of a significant part of criminal offenses, the grounds of criminal responsibility for which are established in the national law on criminal responsibility, as the victim. In view of the above, both in the theory of criminal law and in law enforcement, in certain cases, problems arise with the recognition of certain persons (primarily individuals and legal entities) as victims in the criminal sense. The article examines the problematic issues related to the criminal offense as a criminal-legal feature of a victim. It has been established that victim is primarily and usually a person who has been harmed or threatened by a criminal offense. Situations of causing physical or legal harm by other socially dangerous acts provided for by the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, committed by an innocent person or a person who has not reached the age from which criminal responsibility can arise, as well as within the circumstances that exclude the criminal illegality of the act, are considered. It is argued that the selection of individuals and legal entities, which have been harmed by socially dangerous actions of an unconvinced person, has no criminal legal significance. At the same time, the cases of committing relevant socially dangerous acts against certain individuals or legal entities by a person who has not reached the age from which criminal liability arises for the application of separate coercive measures of an educational nature are of such importance. The ways of solving the problem of identifying persons who have been harmed as a result of committing socially dangerous acts by unconvinced persons or persons who have not reached the age from which criminal responsibility arises are outlined. It was concluded that it is necessary to harmonize the provisions of Art. 55 and p. 5 part 3 of Art. 56 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the context of criminal procedural understanding of the victim. It is proved that a criminal offense as a criminal- legal feature of a victim takes place from the moment of its completion, and not the conviction of the guilty party for its commission. In the case of an attempt to commit a criminal offense, a person can be recognized as a victim both in the criminal law and in the criminal procedural plane.