Particular Cruelty as an Evaluative Concept in Criminal Law

The element of particular cruelty in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is reflected in Art. 63 as an aggravating circumstance, as well as a classifying element in Art. 105, 111, 112, 131 and 132, etc. However, law does not disclose the content of this element. Along with the concept of «particular cruelty,» the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation operates with other, similar terms: torture, torment, bullying, sadism, torture. The content and correlation of the concepts under consideration seem ambiguous, which is the subject of discussion in the doctrine of criminal law. Judicial practice also testifies to the unresolved nature of this issue, which results in the absence of a unified approach in similar cases. The paper, among other things, substantiates the need to replace the concept of «particular cruelty» with the concept of «sadism» in Art. 131 and 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The thesis is put forward that particular cruelty can occur when committing crimes, the object of which is not only social relations that characterize the individual, but also the safety of public health and public morality.