State of passion in criminal law: everything about the qualification of murder or other crime committed in this emotional state

If you think that this does not apply to you, you are wrong! Anyone can experience this; scientists say that even monkeys can experience such emotional disturbance. If we speak in layman's terms - an explosion, a flash, a short circuit, and then you look, and everything has already happened... There are even statistical data that show that the overwhelming number of those convicted of a crime in a state of passion are those who have not been convicted before!! About 80% of them were characterized extremely positively, and of these, about 10% had higher education. And only less than 10% had no education. Like this!

The list of the most dangerous and serious crimes includes the deprivation of human life. When studying such a case, law enforcement agencies take into account all possible aggravating and mitigating circumstances (Article 66 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). One of the types of premeditated murder is committed in a state of passion, in which the suspect committed a crime.

In the process of a serious shock, a person cannot control himself, which becomes the main factor that leads to negative consequences. Considering this condition of the suspect, the court will apply an appropriate punishment that will correspond to the circumstances, nature and severity of the offense.

What is a state of passion: concept, signs and manifestation

Affectus is a fairly strong emotional state that arises quickly and has a pronounced course. Expressed in anger, rage, despair, and maybe even fear. Very often, this condition occurs suddenly and lasts for several seconds. This feeling is practically irresistible, which is why the legislator introduced independent qualifications (privileged compounds). In some cases, this may only be a mitigating circumstance. (OPINION OF A LAWYER)

Characteristic features of the condition:

There is absolutely no ability to think logically;
a person cannot control his actions and restrain himself.

The affect is often accompanied by very sudden movements, disordered speech, a raised voice - screaming, hysteria. All actions performed by a person during this period become a real explosion of emotions.

IMPORTANT ! Only in 25-26% of cases the presence of affect was correctly established at the preliminary investigation stage; in 60% of cases, the incorrect classification of the act was corrected by the court when passing a sentence; But the percentage of errors in verdicts remained high.

This situation can happen to anyone who is experiencing severe emotional disturbance. Such anxiety can lead to insult or humiliation from others, as well as immoral and illegal actions directed at the person. Another common reason is a prolonged situation that has traumatized the mental state.

IMPORTANT ! The state of affect is continuous with the situation and cannot be separated in time and in the influence of the factor on the person. For example: if a person, after being attacked, went home and took a knife and subsequently stabbed the attacker, then such actions cannot be qualified as having “affect”.

“State of affect” in psychology

A state of affect from a psychological point of view is a strong emotional experience that lasts a short period of time. A person is able to accept his own emotional changes and perceive them as part of himself. However, such an effect is considered alien and occurs against human will. It occurs unexpectedly and disturbs the normal functioning of consciousness. Moreover, this condition often leads to pathological consequences for the human psyche.

The affective state helps the psyche cope with complex stressful situations. After all, the main task of consciousness is to preserve one’s body (existence). Therefore, when dangerous situations arise, the body automatically switches to “emergency mode,” which leads to the mobilization of psychological and physical resources. That is why, after the end of the affective state, a person feels devastated and does not fully understand what happened. In this case, partial amnesia is noted - thus, the psyche protects the consciousness from processing everything that happens, which can cause injury to it. Sometimes patients even experience a catatonic state.

State of passion in criminal law

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In criminal law, affect is considered in the form of partial atrophy of the lability of thinking, as well as a weakening of the thought process and reactions. If the forensic examination proves that the person truly could not control his actions, then the court will apply mitigating circumstances for him.

One of the first serious works in judicial practice on this issue was the Plenum of the USSR Supreme Court No. 14 of August 16, 1984. “On the application by courts of legislation ensuring the right to necessary defense against dangerous attacks.”

Expert opinion

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The legislator has not established differentiation of the degree of violence as a basis for distinguishing the qualifications of a crime (its elements). As a result, battles between “necessary defense” and “exceeding the measures of necessary defense” are raging.

The reasons that lead to inappropriate manifestations are clearly regulated in criminal law. These include:

committed bullying and insults towards strangers;
violence – physical or emotional;
systemic immoral behavior.

Important ! However, Affectus cannot be predicted in any way. Often it affects not only the people around him, but also the victim himself. After all, the victim cannot guess what exactly will cause a new outburst of emotions, and the criminal does not know what his reaction will be. This state belongs to the category of one-time impulse reactions to a certain action and is not included in the list of consciously intentional actions.

Here we can conclude that the list of reasons for passion used in the law is wider compared to the possible grounds for necessary defense.

Affect in psychology

The emotional sphere of a person represents special mental processes, as well as states that reflect the individual’s experiences in different situations. Emotions are the subject’s reaction to the current stimulus, as well as to the result of actions. Emotions throughout life influence the human psyche, penetrating all mental processes.

Affect in psychology is strong as well as short-term emotions (experiences) that occur after certain stimuli. State of affect and emotion are different from each other. Emotions are perceived by a person as an integral part of himself - “I”, and affect is a state that appears against the will of a person. Affect occurs in unexpected stressful situations and is characterized by a narrowing of consciousness, the extreme degree of which is a pathological affective reaction.

Mental excitement performs an important adaptive function, preparing a person for an appropriate reaction to internal and external events, and is marked by a high severity of emotional experiences, leading to the mobilization of a person’s psychological as well as physical resources. One of the signs is partial memory loss, which is not observed in every reaction. In some cases, the individual does not remember the events that preceded the affective reaction, as well as the events that occurred during emotional disturbance.

Psychological affect is marked by arousal of mental activity, which reduces control over behavior. This circumstance leads to a crime and entails legal consequences. Persons in a state of mental agitation are limited in their ability to understand their actions. Psychological affect has a significant impact on a person, while disorganizing the psyche, affecting its higher mental functions.

Types of affect

Stress is one of the important influential factors on the emotional state of every person. Taking into account the specific situation and further developments of events, three types of Affectus :

Physiological affect is a completely normal reaction of the body to a stressful situation. A manifestation of this type is noted as a result of severe emotional shock. Demonstration of the condition is considered moderate and does not go beyond the permitted social boundaries. The affect arises very quickly and subsides just as quickly. Some people don't even notice much change in their behavior.
A pathological effect is a painful condition that can occur to an absolutely healthy person as a result of the psychotraumatic conditions in which he finds himself. The activity of manifestations is individual and directly depends on the personality of each person. Those who have disturbances in the functioning of the nervous system, inhibition and impaired excitation processes are prone to such affect. The form of expression is verbal and physical aggression directed at others.
Affect of inadequacy - compared to the two previous types, this affect has a long-term, constant effect. It occurs due to the fact that the individual does not have the ability to perform the desired action. For young children this is a completely normal reaction. However, for adults, such affect has a detrimental effect - manifestations of aggression, resentment, and negativism.

Taking into account the specific type of affective state, one can judge the nature of the crime. This happens by analyzing patient responses to detailed questions about the internal sensations of what happened.

Strong emotional disturbance during an “excess of defense” acts as an accompanying subjective circumstance and should not affect the qualification of the defender’s actions.

Phases of affect

Critical shock includes 3 phases:

Pre-affective phase. The person loses the ability to adequately assess the situation. When making a decision, he is guided not by reason, but by feelings.
Explosion phase. Biological instincts take precedence over the rules of behavior in society learned by humans. He hits someone, throws objects, or runs in an unknown direction.
Post-affective phase. All processes in the human body slow down. It’s hard for him to do anything, he wants to sleep.

The state of passion is such a strong emotional shock that after it a person cannot remember the details of what happened, as well as the reasons that caused him such a strong emotional reaction to the situation.

The importance of the emotional state when qualifying murders and other crimes in the Criminal Code

Expert opinion

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Exceeding the limits of necessary defense, committed in a state of passion, excludes criminal liability, regardless of the consequences. Since the same reason can cause different uncontrollable emotions in different people (for one - fear, and for another - anger).

According to Art. 116 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for murder in a state of passion, the offender must bear criminal liability. This applies to citizens who are in a state of physiological affect:

a person’s self-esteem and self-control become difficult;
a decrease in control over one’s actions, but not a complete loss of control.

In a state of pathological affect, a person does not understand what he is doing and cannot control himself. Therefore, according to Art. 19 of the Criminal Code, the criminal was declared insane at this moment.

Art. 116 of the Criminal Code provides for criminal liability for criminals who committed premeditated murder while in a state of physiological affect. All other cases: infliction of bodily harm of varying degrees of severity or murder by negligence - are qualified under Art. 119 of the Criminal Code.

Murder is not considered under Art. 116 of the Criminal Code in several cases when physiological affect was caused by the legitimate actions of the victim:

taking into custody (Article 155 of the Code of Criminal Procedure);
confiscation of movable and immovable property (Article 59 of the Criminal Code);
detention of a criminal (Article 38 of the Criminal Code) and more.

As a result, a crime committed in the process of physiological affect is considered as a reaction to the unlawful actions of the victim. Therefore, such a crime is considered committed under mitigating circumstances.

Signs of affect

The meaning of the word affect has a physiological basis. Affection is accompanied by:

release of a large amount of adrenaline into the blood;
increased heart rate;
vasospasm;
shallow breathing;
increased blood pressure;
impaired coordination of movements;
unnatural movements, twitching;
physiological and mental exhaustion;
unconscious actions and behaviors;
narrowing of consciousness;
feeling of hopelessness;
explosive emotions.

Being in a state of passion, a person loses the ability to adequately perceive time. Fractions of a second can seem like excruciatingly long minutes to him.

How to prove a state of passion

In the process of an affective state and frustration, a person may commit a crime that he will soon regret. In this situation, the main evidence in the case is considered to be:

testimony of possible witnesses;
documented facts that tell about the event that caused the criminal’s behavior;
the behavior of the accused before, during and after the commission of the crime.

The key decision is to conduct a forensic examination, during which the defendant communicates with an expert psychologist. As a result of which the decision is made “could or could not account for his actions at the time of the commission of the crime”

Causes of affect

According to psychologists, the causes of an affective state can be:

a situation in which the life of the individual or his loved ones is in danger;
protracted conflict;
scandal;
a person hears insults;

An unfavorable socio-psychological climate can provoke a state of passion

the individual suffers humiliation and immoral actions;
the fulfillment of a long-awaited dream;
periodic repetition of the same unpleasant situation;
negative memories of a person;
devaluation of the individual's feelings;
the presence of contradictions in a person between his needs and capabilities;
psychological pressure on a person from the immediate environment;
individual characteristics of the human nervous system;
the presence in the structure of a person’s character of such traits as impulsiveness, aggressiveness, emotional excitability;
a person is forced to work or make decisions under time pressure;
a person engages in extreme sports.

Features of examination to confirm affect

Organizing and conducting an examination after a physiological affect is considered quite difficult in methodological terms. Such difficulties lie in the process of expert research, when it is necessary to convey the state that a person has experienced. Therefore, experts use the methods that are available to them. One of these methods is considered to be a retrospective psychological analysis of a wrongful act, which is carried out on the basis of the received materials in a criminal case.

An expert psychologist must include in the investigation:

A detailed analysis of the situation that led to these consequences.
Conducting an analysis of stable personality traits of a potential criminal. Witness testimony, characteristics from the workplace, place of study, and more are used as evidence.
Analysis of the psychophysiological state of the perpetrator at the time of the crime - nervous breakdown, somatic illnesses, fatigue, insomnia, etc.
Analysis of the sequence of actions taken, their expediency.
Analysis of the behavior of the criminal after the committed actions.
Analysis by the perpetrator of his actions.

IMPORTANT! Affect during defensive actions differs from necessary defense, although it has a common nature.

Much of the information needed to make the expert's final conclusions will be obtained through communication with the perpetrator. Such a conversation does not have a specific order, and questions are asked and selected in such a way that the expert can get a detailed picture of the subject’s inner world, including the nuances of the crime.

The concept of forensic psychological examination of emotional states

This type of examination is one of the most developed, but also the most controversial among lawyers and psychologists.
There are different opinions about the exact content of the particular subject of the examination, about the relationship between legal and psychological terminology. Thus, on the website of the Center for Independent Expertise in Moscow, which provides professional services for organizing and conducting examinations and research (both in court and pre-trial), forensic psychological examination of emotional states is not identified as a separate type of examination, but is included in such types expertise as psychological-psychiatric and psychological-autotechnical.

The very name of the type of examination has not been fully settled: in the legal literature one can more often find the term “examination of affect” (or psychological affect, physiological affect, simple affect). In a psychological sense, all these definitions of affect are synonymous and are used to distinguish between the establishment of affect and pathological affect.

The main task of forensic psychological examination of emotional states:

identification of a certain mental (emotional) state and its impact on a person’s ability to understand his actions and consciously guide them.

The concept of “examination of passion” came from the criminal process (when considering criminal cases, it is evidentiary value to identify whether the person at the time of the offense was in a state of “suddenly arising strong emotional excitement (affect)” - Article 113 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). However, in addition to affect, the ability to recognize the content of actions and consciously manage them can be influenced by other emotional states (stress, frustration, states of mental tension, etc.). When considering civil cases, it is not so much the qualification of the emotional state (whether there was affect) that is important, but the degree of influence of a particular emotional state on the awareness of the content of actions and expression of will.

Therefore, it seems more accurate to call this type of examination (as psychologists have recently suggested) an examination of emotional states rather than affect.

The characteristics of the expert research under consideration and its particular subject, which was originally formed as a definition of affect, presuppose a clarification of the content of a number of terms.

What to do if affect is not confirmed during a psychiatric examination

When making court decisions, judges do not always take into account the motivational part of the expert opinion. After all, not only the expert’s conclusion matters, but also the expert’s determination of the defendant’s emotional stress, which led to negative consequences.

Expert opinion

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“For the application of Art. 116 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, it is important to prove that the criminal’s strong state of mind was provoked by illegal violence, constant bullying or severe resentment. Only the use of such reasons can confirm the presence of this composition.”

The lawyer will help accompany the psychiatric examination, and if his client’s state of passion is not confirmed, a repeated request for a second examination will be submitted. In addition, it is not necessary to have positive results of the examination; if the case is handled competently by the lawyer who is defending his client, this can be achieved as a mitigating circumstance. It all depends on the evidence collected, the consent of the accused to help the investigation, and his obvious nervous breakdown.

Consequences of affect and their treatment

Many people who have experienced severe emotional disturbance experience post-stress consequences:

prostration;
decreased performance;
heart failure, arrhythmia;
apathy;
hypochondria;
increased personal anxiety;
phobias and panic attacks;
decrease in general emotional background;
depression;
neuroses;
psychoses;
bipolar affective disorder;
transition of chronic diseases to the acute stage.

The negative consequences of affect are due to the fact that a person spends a huge amount of mental energy in the shortest period of time. Without qualified medical and psychological assistance, it is impossible to neutralize the negative consequences of affect.

Psychiatrists treat post-affective illnesses. To restore mental balance use:

psychotherapy;
drug therapy based on sedatives and drugs that strengthen the nervous system);
electroconvulsive therapy (the method is used if a person is contraindicated in taking antidepressants and sedatives).

For positive dynamics it is necessary to combine psychotherapy and drug treatment.

Main conclusions

Affect, like states equated to it, are limiting, extreme states that cause sudden changes in a person, which manifests itself in behavior and specific actions. Such conditions are not pathological, do not cause confusion, and do not eliminate complete control over actions.

For all crimes committed in a state of passion, the perpetrator must bear commensurate criminal liability, the nature of which depends on the following important factors:

Determining the exact reasons that brought a person to an uncontrolled emotional state.
A type of affect that depends on the individual characteristics of each person and the situation in which she finds herself.
The behavior of the criminal during and after the crime was committed - admission of guilt, repentance, willingness to cooperate with the investigation.

One of the fundamental proofs of the state of affect is the conduct of the SM Examination. This examination is carried out in the institutions of the Ministry of Health directly by an expert psychologist as part of a council, who, after studying the case materials, creates a list of questions. These questions will help to reveal in detail the elements of the crime and understand the actions of the criminal.

Self-help methods

If a person learns to recognize the approach of affect, he will be able to help himself independently. To do this you need:

Develop emotional intelligence, learn to differentiate your own emotions. The ability to understand and classify one’s own emotions will allow a person to identify the causes of their occurrence and promptly minimize the effect of negative factors.
Learn to talk about feelings. Communicating with colleagues and friends about the emotions behind their actions will make it easier to resolve problematic situations.
Learn to express negative emotions in socially acceptable ways. For example, psychologists advise tearing up paper during an attack of rage, or going for a run if you cannot find a compromise solution.
Listen to your own needs and desires. If a person wants to be happy, he must satisfy his needs.
Keep a diary of emotions. Dialogue with oneself in writing will help a person to better understand his feelings and outline a plan for self-development.

Questions to ask the experts

Thus, when a lawyer defending a criminal defendant decides to go to the CSPE, it is necessary to clearly articulate the questions that should be asked by the experts.

Before the adoption of the new Criminal Code, experts were asked whether the accused was in a physiological state at the time of the commission of the crime. A positive answer to such a question will have a significant impact on the qualification of the acts committed by the accused under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code (Articles 107, 113).

Against this background, the conclusions made in the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated September 9, 1998 in the Klimova case, about the commission of a crime under paragraph “d” of Art. 102 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (murder committed with extreme cruelty).

The motives established by the court, the circumstances of the crime, and Klimova’s mental state immediately at the time of the crime lead to the conclusion that she committed the murder of G. in a state of sudden strong mental arousal caused by violence, bullying of the victim, as well as a long-term psychotraumatic situation that arose as a result systematic illegal and immoral behavior of the victim, i.e. committed a crime under Part 1 of Art. 107 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The expert’s reference to the fact that Klimova’s state of mind did not have a “physiological effect” cannot, in this particular case, affect the objective legal assessment of the convict’s state of mind at the time of the crime, taking into account the nature of the victim’s behavior and the suddenness of the murderous intent. The suddenness of the actions of Klimova, who in a short time inflicted wounds on the victim immediately after she was subjected to violence on his part, is also confirmed by the randomness of her choice of instruments of crime (kitchen knives, forks), and the randomness of the blows inflicted.

However, the question of whether the accused is in a state of passion should not and cannot be the only one. In addition, when asking questions to an expert, the adviser must formulate them in such a way that the expert cannot answer the question negatively.

It is necessary to pay attention to the point of view of I.A. Kudryavtseva: “When identifying the psychological cause-and-effect relationships of affect, specialists can only take into account the subjective meaning of the affective cause. In no case should it be confused with the legal concepts of the gravity of the offense, immorality of actions and other qualifying features of Art. 107 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and replace legal concepts with psychological ones. Assessing the objective gravity and legal qualification of the victim’s unlawful actions that caused the assault is the prerogative and competence of only lawyers.”

In this light, the defense attorney could be advised to formulate questions that are more related to the field of psychological science and take the form “is it possible in the heat of the moment that ...”, “is it characteristic of a state of passion that ...”, “is the defendant’s behavior in the heat of the moment when..." After such introductory phrases, the lawyer must point out the circumstances that arose in the specific case in which he is working. Examples include questions such as:

Is it possible to have a state of affect in people who are anxious, indecisive and have repeatedly attempted suicide?

Is the defendant's behavior before and during the act of passion typical, such as muttering, panting, "strange" facial expressions, and shaking hands?

Does this happen in the heat of the moment when the defendant remains near the body after the murder and falls asleep?

Is partial memory loss possible in a state of passion?

Is it typical for a state of passion that the accused says: “I don’t know what came over me”, “I don’t understand why I did it”?

Only after these questions is it reasonable to ask the main question: Was the accused in a state of anger?

This order and way of asking questions should push the expert to answer positively the last question: about the state of affect.

Affect as a legally significant emotional state

Introduction Until now, in the legal literature, the emotional factor has been considered only as an element of the crime, and has also been studied in order to establish the subjective side of the unlawful act. But, in the opinion of the author of this work, this issue should be considered somewhat more broadly. The issue of the emotional factor in the commission of an unlawful act still attracts the attention of many legal scholars. But nevertheless, these works require additional research, and it is also necessary to consider in more detail the issue of the influence of the state of passion on the unlawful behavior of a person committing a crime in this state, as well as on the behavior of such a person after the situation has passed. In addition, aspects of the victimology of murder in a state of passion also require additional analysis. The purpose of the work is to consider affect as a legally significant emotional state. To achieve the goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks: 1. Explore the concept of affect. 2. Determine the types of affect. Structurally, the work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a list of sources used. 1. The concept of affect The criminal legal institution of affect has a long history of formation and development, is characteristic of the vast majority of similar criminal legal systems of foreign countries and is a direct expression of compliance with the concept of human rights and freedoms, since it is intended not to relieve the offender from responsibility, but to limit it , to make the severity of the committed actions dependent on the state in which the perpetrator committed the criminal act. And, despite the fact that many of the existing articles of criminal legislation are constantly changing, supplemented, repealed, etc., the articles regulating the commission of crimes in a state of passion are distinguished, so to speak, by some stability. So, for example, the wording of Art. 107 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation dated June 13, 1996 No. 63-FZ, which contains rules on criminal liability for murder committed in a state of passion, has not changed since December 2011, and even then the punishment was simply slightly changed. Let's try to analyze some of the characteristics of the institution of affect in modern criminal law in more detail. The essence of affect is that, representing a “state of sudden strong emotional excitement,” which can be caused by violence, bullying or grave insult on the part of the victim or other illegal or immoral actions (inaction) of the victim, as well as a long-term psychotraumatic situation that arose in connection with the systematic illegal or immoral behavior of the victim, it is a circumstance that significantly affects the degree of guilt and, accordingly, the severity and severity of criminal liability and the severity of criminal punishment, reducing it. By their nature, properties, and consequences, experts divide affects into: - physiological affect provoked by the victim; cumulative affect caused by a long-term psychotraumatic situation that arises as a result of the immoral or illegal behavior of the victim; — affective states in the form of emotional arousal or tension caused by a long-term traumatic situation, and pathological affect. There are some individual psychological characteristics that predispose to the development of affective ones - a type of higher nervous activity or a set of innate properties of the nervous system. It has been established that those with a weak type of nervous system, which is characterized by mild excitability, high susceptibility to stimuli, low resistance to strong stimuli, and often passivity of nervous processes, are most susceptible to affective states; - the special mental nature of the personality, namely: the characteristics of its self-esteem. People whose self-esteem is high, but not stable enough, are easily vulnerable, painfully perceive comments and assessments of others, quickly lose self-control, as a result of which the usual behavior program is disrupted; — age of the subject. — children’s behavior strongly depends on the assessments of others, but the self-control system is not sufficiently formed and does not allow one to exclude affective outbursts in situations in which an adult does not experience difficulties. Elderly people are also more likely to experience physiological affect, since resistance to affective experiences gradually decreases, but irritability increases; - temporary functional mental and physiological states that violate a person’s resistance to an affectogenic situation, already mentioned above. These include fatigue, insomnia, etc. In addition to congenital or acquired mental qualities and personality traits, the state of the face during a confrontation with provocation can play an important role in the process of the emergence of affect. That is, it must be taken into account that a state of alcoholic or drug intoxication can slow down, drown out the functions of the psyche, and therefore distort the process of perceiving the surrounding reality. Thus, a whole complex of pathogenic factors forms the basis for the development of an exceptional condition. It is they that lead to deformation of the functional state of the nervous system at the time of action of the stimulus causing an acute psychotic state. At the same time, the emergence of this temporary predisposition is facilitated by a mass of unforeseen weakening circumstances in unusual, rare combinations. This, apparently, explains the fact that exceptional conditions are rare phenomena, and the likelihood of their recurrence in the same person is extremely low. Affects develop in the current specific circumstances, when the subject is not able to quickly and intelligently resolve a critical situation. In this case, affect becomes the only unconscious way out of it. That is, a person understands that he must do something, but cannot find suitable options for action. As a result of this inconsistency, affect occurs. In the case where alternative options for normal behavior are obvious to a person, affect will not arise. Mental states that are close to it should be distinguished from affect: emotional arousal and emotional tension (they are not accompanied by emotional outbursts, they lack the sign of “suddenness”). These states differ in the strength and intensity of the experience, but invariably they culminate in a partial narrowing of consciousness, resulting in certain consequences, although to a significantly lesser extent than with affect: the perception of reality is disrupted, control over the situation is reduced and behavior becomes unpredictable . At the same time, a number of scientists identify these affective states with affect as such. As for the term “suddenly arising strong emotional disturbance,” it is known that it was transferred to the modern code from the previous criminal law and was supplemented by the concept of “affect.” However, this concept is interpreted very vaguely and indefinitely. After all, in order to identify him, it is necessary to be guided by the criteria established in the Criminal Code, as which the law provides only for unlawful actions (inaction) of the victim that resulted in a state of strong emotional disturbance. At the same time, in the comments to the law there are no references to the severity, the suddenness of the onset of a state of strong emotional excitement, while affect is characterized by suddenness, turbulence, and severity. That is, strong emotional excitement is a broader concept, since it does not always reach a state of passion in its intensity. Thus, most researchers have come to the reasonable conclusion that affect and strong emotional excitement are correlated as part and whole, and the basic concept also includes other emotional states that arose as a result of the wrongful actions of the victim and differ in the strength of their manifestation from simple emotions. There is an opinion according to which, in order to avoid confusion between the concepts of “affect” and “strong emotional excitement”, it is necessary to exclude the term “strong emotional excitement” from the text of the norms under consideration and limit ourselves to the term “affect”. However, taking into account the fact that external circumstances, the reasons that provoke a criminal result, do not always lead to the onset of any type of affect, but also have a depressing effect on the human psyche, due to which his consciousness is significantly limited and darkened, it would be appropriate to talk specifically about a state of strong emotional excitement, an affective state. An impressive number of people experience precisely these conditions, and it would be unfair to deprive them of legal protection through such a reformulation of the norms, because they, too, are very vulnerable through their condition, although to a lesser extent than with affect. So in the materials of the criminal case against Perfileva T.N. under Part 4 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation there is a conclusion of an additional outpatient comprehensive forensic psychological and psychiatric examination (in the conclusion of the primary examination it was indicated that there was no state of physiological affect, its equivalents and other emotional state that could have a significant impact on behavior) based on the results of which the commission of experts came to the conclusion, that during the period under study the condition of Perfileva T.N. should be qualified as pronounced emotional stress that had a significant impact on her consciousness and behavior. That is, it was the affective state that was established, but not the state of affect. However, as a result, the court qualifies the actions of the defendant under Art. 113 CC. Also interesting is the question of the relationship between the state of passion and limited sanity. The fact is that the grounds for limited sanity are various anomalies in the psyche. Mental abnormalities are shallow mental disorders (psychopathy, neuroses, mild forms of dementia), which do not exclude the sanity of a person at the time he committed a crime. Mental anomalies suggest that a person, at the time of committing a socially dangerous act, cannot fully understand the meaning of his actions or control them due to a painful mental disorder. It is these criteria that are reduced to the category of limited sanity and fully reflect the state of mind characteristic during the period of being in an affected state (except for pathological affect, which excludes sanity). Since the impact of affect and mental abnormalities on the psyche and consciousness of a person is the same in nature, some scientists propose to consider affect in the context of limited sanity. On the other hand, there is an opinion that these states should be clearly separated due to different reasons for their occurrence, which is fair. After all, the nature of mental anomalies and the psychological nature of affect are different. If affect is a reaction to a strong stimulus, then mental anomalies are based on a genetic predisposition and a certain traumatic experience, laid down mainly in childhood. That is why medical measures can be applied to persons with mental abnormalities as punishment. And to persons who have committed a crime in a state of passion, such measures cannot be applied due to the fact that passion is not in the nature of a painful mental disorder, but is a normal mental state of a healthy person. Obviously, the discussion about sanity in the case of physiological affect is aimed at ensuring the rights and legitimate interests of both victims and defendants. For the former, it is important to restore violated rights, as far as possible, while the latter are interested in ensuring that the punishment imposed corresponds to the degree of their guilt. All this depends on establishing the fact of the presence or absence of affect, its nature and determining the sanity of the person, which falls within the scope of forensic examinations. 2. Types of affect and their meaning Affect is always accompanied by physiological changes in the human body. The first thing that is observed is a powerful surge of adrenaline. Then comes the time of vegetative reactions - the pulse and breathing quicken, blood pressure rises, spasms of peripheral vessels occur, and coordination of movements is impaired. People who have experienced a state of passion experience physical exhaustion and exacerbation of chronic diseases. Affect is usually divided into physiological and pathological. Physiological affect is an intense emotion that completely takes over a person’s consciousness, as a result of which control over one’s own actions is reduced. In this case, deep clouding of consciousness does not occur, and the person usually maintains self-control. Pathological affect is a rapidly occurring psychophysiological reaction characterized by the suddenness of its occurrence, in which the intensity of the experience is much higher than with physiological affect, and the nature of the emotions is concentrated around such states as rage, anger, fear, despair. With pathological affect, the normal course of the most important mental processes - perception and thinking - is usually disrupted, a critical assessment of reality disappears, and volitional control over actions is sharply reduced. German psychiatrist Richard Krafft-Ebing drew attention to the deep disorder of consciousness during pathological affect with the resulting fragmentation and confusion of memories of what happened