The Supreme Court introduced a bill on criminal offenses to the State Duma for the second time

The Supreme Court introduced a bill to the State Duma that proposes to introduce a definition of “criminal offense” into the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes. The corresponding document was published on the website of the lower house of parliament.

According to the explanatory note, a crime of minor gravity will be recognized as a criminal offense, the punishment for which does not include imprisonment. When committing a criminal act, the accused is offered to be punished with a fine, correctional or compulsory labor.

Basically, the initiative applies to crimes of minor gravity against property (Part 1 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code (theft) and Part 1 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code (fraud)) and certain crimes of minor and medium gravity in the field of business and other economic activities that are not related to the use of violence or with the threat of its application (for example, the illegal formation of a legal entity or evasion of customs duties).

In total, the bill proposes to classify 112 offenses as criminal offenses, including 53 offenses in the economic sphere. These acts may be considered a criminal offense if the accused committed them for the first time.

In 2018, the Supreme Court already submitted a bill on criminal offenses to the State Duma, but the initiative received negative feedback from the government.