Optional features of the objective side in the elements of crimes against life and health: criminal law significance

The paper considers the criminal law significance of optional features of the objective side in the elements of crimes against life and health. The author noted that these circumstances are important for the qualification of a criminal act and sentencing. The paper notes that these signs of the objective side affect the nature and degree of social danger of a crime, differentiating responsibility, and also, in combination with others, make it possible to distinguish between related socially dangerous acts. Based on the results of the analysis, the author concludes that the optional features of the objective side for the elements of crimes against life and health perform a threefold role in criminal law: they are an obligatory sign of the elements of a crime; act as a differentiating feature of the corpus delicti; taken into account when sentencing as circumstances mitigating or aggravating punishment. In addition, the work attempts to systematize the named signs of crimes against life and health, which are enshrined in the dispositions of the articles of Ch. 16 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.