Extreme Necessity in Case of Harm during First Aid

Abstract

In the course of the research, the author discovered 31 criminal cases considered by Russian courts resulting in a non-rehabilitating decision due to causing death when providing first aid. At the same time, this phenomenon is mostly unknown to domestic researchers. The purpose of the paper is the criminal law assessment of the first aid provision by non-professional subjects. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were set: to establish the possibility of the presence of an extreme necessity in the provision of first aid; to establish conditions under which causing harm in the provision of such assistance does not entail criminal liability; to make proposals for eliminating defects in law enforcement and improving Russian legislation. To achieve these tasks, the author applied formal legal, formal dogmatic and statistical methods, as well as a set of general philosophical methods, including analysis, synthesis, deduction and induction. As a result of the study, cases of inconsistency of judicial practice with the norms of the domestic criminal law on extreme necessity were identified. Contrary to the arguments of some courts, when harm is caused during first aid, there may be some extreme necessity, exceeding which does not entail criminal liability for causing harm. The conclusions of the study are that the Russian criminal law on extreme necessity corresponds to the tasks facing the legislator; the problem lies in the insufficient understanding of its provisions by the judges. The author made proposals for reforming related provisions of the criminal law on the basis of the legislation of Canada and the United States.