The Victim as the Addressee of Compensation for Harm and Criminal Legal Encouragement of the Offender

In modern Russian criminal law and legislation, compensation for harm caused by a crime has taken the position of the leading condition for providing incentives to the perpetrator. At the same time, this process in practice was accompanied by the formation of contradictions to the established doctrine, which, in particular, necessitates the analysis of the recipient's understanding of compensation for harm in situations where the victim died due to the crime committed, as well as in relation to acts where its signs are completely absent in the norm of the law. Based on scientific research and practical examples, including empirical data obtained by the author, it is noted that exemption from liability should be considered impossible if the victim died as a result of a crime committed against him, since compensation for harm to the victim's loved ones is not able to fully restore the violated social attitude that protects human life. With regard to acts where there is no clearly defined victim and a socially dangerous consequence reflected in the real world, the author considers it acceptable to encourage the perpetrator in the form of release from responsibility. At the same time, the recipient of compensation for harm in such a situation, based on the material attribute of the crime, is the whole society, and the amount of this compensation should be fixed by law. As a conclusion, the author identified four groups of victims to whom compensation for damage caused by a crime can be addressed in order to receive criminal legal encouragement. With the clarifications and exceptions specified in the work, these should include individuals and legal entities, as well as the state and society.