Methodology of the robbery offence investigation

• Author: Nechita Elena-Ana
• Position: AGORA University, Oradea, Law and Economics Faculty
• Pages: 154-159

METHODOLOGY OF THE ROBBERY OFFENCE INVESTIGATION

PhD Reader Elena-Ana Nechita

AGORA University, Oradea

Law and Economics Faculty

emihut2005@yahoo.com

Abstract: In the first part of the article, I have presented the legal content of the criminal

offence of robbery as established by the present-day Romanian Criminal Code, by the new

Romanian Criminal Code published in 2009 and by the Hungarian Criminal Code.

Keeping in mind the fact that the criminal offence of robbery is a complex offence and also the fact

that the social values violated by committing this deed are very important, such as life, bodily

integrity, health, patrimonial values, in the second part of the article I have presented several cases

of judiciary practice that show particularities of the offence investigation and of its legal

classification.

Key words: investigation, criminal offence, robbery, judiciary practice.

I. General considerations. Robbery is defined as ”the theft committed by use of violence or

threat or by placing the victim in a state of unconsciousness or incapacity of defending

himself/herself, as well as the theft followed by the use of such means in order to retain the stolen

good or to remove the traces of the criminal offence or so that the doer can ensure his/her escape“

1

.

When the content of the criminal offence includes, as an element or as an aggravating

circumstance, an action or an inaction that constitutes by itself a deed established by the criminal

law, we are facing a complex criminal offence, for instance , the offence of robbery, which has a

complex juridical object made of two or several juridical objects, of which one is principal and the

other is adjacent.

A) Robbery in its simple form

The main juridical object consists of the patrimonial social relations regarding the

maintenance of the physical position of the goods, while the secondary juridical object includes the

social relations regarding the life, health, integrity of the body and freedom of the person

2

.

The material object is represented by a movable good possessed or detained by someone else, on

which the action of taking away is exerted, as well as the body of the person against whom the deed

of the wrongdoer is directed

3

.

The objective side is characterised by two components, each of them including several

aspects

4

.

a) the act of committing the robbery includes two conjunct actions:

1. the action of coercion, as a means – action, is committed in order to prevent or suppress

the resistance of the victim, it is a means to commit the theft, to keep the stolen good, to remove the

traces of the criminal offence or to allow the wrongdoer to escape. It can be achieved through:

- use of violence or threats;

- getting the victim into a state of unconsciousness or incapacity of defending

himself/herself.

1

According to the provisions of article 211 of the Romania n Criminal Code.

2

See Al. Boroi, Criminal Law. The Special Part, Publishing House C.H.Beck, Bucharest, 2006, p. 21 2; Gh. Nistoreanu,

V. Dobrinoiu and their contributors, Criminal Law. The Special Part, Publishing H ouse Continent XXI, Bucharest,

1995

3

V. Dongoroz, in Theoretical E xplanations of the Romanian Criminal Code. The Special Part,Vol. III, Publishing

House of the Academy, Bucharest, 1971, p. 485

4

See R.Bodea, Criminal Law. The Special Part, Ed. Treira, 2003, p. 236-237; O.A.Stoica, Drept penal. Partea special,

Ed. Didactică şi Pedagogică, Bucureşti, 1976, p. 158