The voluntary refusal to commit a crime in the criminal law of Russia and China

Abstract

The article provides a comparative legal analysis of the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Criminal Code of the PRC concerning the institution of voluntary refusal to commit a crime. The question of understanding the term “voluntariness” in relation to the provisions of Article 31 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Article 24 of the Criminal Code of the PRC is studied, a distinction is made between subjective voluntariness, that is, directly related to the person committing the crime, and voluntariness associated with the objective possibility of a person to continue committing a crime. With regard to the provisions of Article 31 of the Criminal Code of the Russia, the question of the connection between voluntary refusal and the stages of committing a crime is raised, it is concluded that with regard to voluntary refusal, we are talking terminologically not about the stages of committing a crime, but about the stages of criminal behavior. It is indicated that in relation to Article 24 of the Criminal Code of the PRC, voluntary refusal can be of two types: at the stage of preparatory actions or at the stage of performing the objective side of the crime, as well as refusal after performing the objective side of the crime, but before the onset of the consequences that the offender sought. It is noted that the second type of voluntary refusal is not peculiar to Russian legislation, and therefore the provisions of Article 24 of the Criminal Code of the PRC are largely similar to the institution of active repentance in Russian Criminal Law. It is concluded that there is some similarity, but also a significant difference between voluntary refusal in the legislation of the two countries.