Assault with Intent to Rob

(Russian, razboi), under Soviet criminal law, a crime consisting in an attack for the purpose of seizing state, public, or personal property combined with force that endangers the life and health of the person subjected to the attack or combined with the threat of such force. Assault with intent to rob is considered a completed crime at the moment of the attack, regardless of whether the guilty person had in fact used force, harmed the victim, or seized the property.

Assault with the intention of seizing state or public property is punishable by loss of freedom for a term of three to ten years with or without confiscation of the attacker’s property. Assault with the intention of seizing the personal property of citizens may also be punished by loss of freedom for three to ten years. Aggravating circumstances in the commission of such a crime are a preliminary agreement by a group of persons, the employment of a weapon or other object used as a weapon, the causing of serious bodily injury, and the commission of the crime by an especially dangerous recidivist or by a person who had previously committed such a crime. The intent to seize large amounts of state or public property is construed as an aggravating circumstance.

Under the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, an assault with intent to seize state, public, or personal property, committed under aggravating circumstances, is punishable by loss of freedom for six to 15 years with or without exile and with or without confiscation of the attacker’s property. The criminal codes of most of the Union republics take into account both aggravating and especially aggravating circumstances in establishing liability for assault with intent to seize personal property (for example, the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR, art. 142). Criminal liability for assault with intent to rob ensues at the age of 14.