The concept and types of victims under the criminal legislation of Ukraine

The article examines issues related to the concept and types of victims of criminal offenses and their characteristics. The problem of a victim of a criminal offense in criminal law is considered to be poorly studied. It has a complex and interdisciplinary nature. As a general rule, a victim is a natural person who has been directly caused moral, physical or property damage by a criminal offense. The concept of a victim of a criminal offense is not legally defined, that is, the current Criminal Code of Ukraine does not establish a definition of this concept, which leads to certain difficulties in practice, despite the fact that many norms of current criminal legislation clearly indicate one or another type of victim of an unlawful encroachment. Although in general, it is impossible to recognize a victim as a mandatory feature of the composition of a criminal offense, since not all criminally punishable acts indicate it. Therefore, the victim is recognized as an optional feature of the composition of a criminal offense and one that is related to the object of a criminal offense. The establishment at the theoretical level of the concept of a victim in a criminal offense is carried out in different ways, but the common thing is still the recognition that the victim is a subject who is in a certain sphere of social relations, therefore it is an individual person, a certain association of people, the state, etc. For the implementation of the correct criminal legal qualification, it is important to clearly establish the features of the victim, depending on who exactly such a person is – whether it is a representative of the authorities, a minor or underage person, a woman who is pregnant, etc. The demographic features of the victim include: gender, age, health status, marital status, and others. The gender of the victim is important in the qualification of criminal offenses against sexual freedom and sexual integrity of a person, against the life and health of a person, against the personal rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen. The age of the person is used, as a rule, to indicate victims who have not reached the age of eighteen.