Signs of simple premeditated murder under the criminal law of Ukraine

Issues related to the characterization and analysis of the main signs of simple premeditated murder under the criminal law of Ukraine are investigated. An obligatory integral feature of intentional murder, including its simple composition, is its illegality. The wrongfulness of murder, like any other criminal offense, is determined by guilt and punishment. Illegality means the prohibition by the criminal law norm of committing this or that act under the threat of punishment for it. For a detailed and comprehensive analysis of this or that criminal law norm, in our case the norm that provides for the so-called simple murder, it is important first of all to establish the signs that in their totality form the composition of a specific criminal offense. It is worth noting that for the correct criminal-legal qualification, the most optimal and justified is the analysis of the signs of the composition of the criminal offense by the elements of this composition. The paper uses a number of methods of scientific knowledge: hermeneutic, historical-legal, systemic, dialectical, functional, formal-logical analysis. The murder of a person, provided for in part 1 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, in the theory of criminal law is called murder without mitigating and aggravating circumstances or the main component of murder, simple component of murder (simple murder) or component of murder without qualifying features. Part 1 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is a general norm in relation to other forms of intentional murder, i.e., it formulates the generic form of murder, from which qualifying features are already distinguished, i.e. qualified forms of intentional murder (Part 2 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and privileged composition of intentional murders (Articles 116-118 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), which in turn are special norms. When establishing the features that make up simple intentional murder as an independent criminal offense, one should first of all pay attention to its objective and subjective features. The murder of another person, which entails responsibility under Part 1 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, must be distinguished from other forms of murder, when committed, for example, an assault is made on a special victim.