Abstract
This study examines the specifics of legal regulation in matters of taking and killing hostages and legal responsibility for this crime from the perspective of Ukrainian and foreign law. Through the study the norms of the criminal legislation of Ukraine stipulating punishment for the murder of hostages, the paper focuses on the importance of differentiating the dispositive norms of the articles of Criminal Code of Ukraine related to the criminal legal qualification of the murder of hostages. The study notes the fact that Ukrainian criminal legislation contains identical legal norms regarding responsibility for the same crime—the premeditated murder of a hostage and the taking of a hostage. This study is of practical interest for professionals practicing in the field of criminal law.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Speaking about the structure of a legal norm, it should be noted that in the continental and Anglo-Saxon legal families, approaches to determining the structure of a legal norm differ. The concept of a three-element structure of a rule of law, which includes a hypothesis, disposition and sanction, is most widely recognized in the law of the continental legal family. The norms of common law, which are of a precedent nature, have a different specificity. Disposition is a part of a legal norm that formulates a rule of lawful behavior, or signs of illegal behavior (Petrova 2015; Pershits et al. 1977; Vidican 2018).
References
Asal, V., C. Johnson, and J. Wilkenfeld. 2020. Ethnopolitical violence and terrorism in the middle east. In Peace and conflict 2008, ed. J.J. Hewitt, J. Wilkenfeld, and T.R. Gurr, 55–66. London: Routledge.
Buchanan, K. 2015. FALQs: Terrorism in France. https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/01/falqs-terrorism-in-france/. Accessed 12 March 2021.
Code penal. n.d. https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/section_lc/LEGITEXT000006070719/LEGISCTA000006117597/#LEGISCTA000006117597. Accessed 12 March 2021.
Criminal Code of Estonia. n.d. https://www.legislationline.org/documents/section/criminal-codes/country/33/Estonia/show. Accessed 12 March 2021.
Criminal Code of Ukraine of 1960 (former Criminal Code of USSR). 2011. https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2001-05#Text. Accessed 12 March 2021.
Criminal Code of Ukraine. 2021. https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2341-14#Text. Accessed 12 March 2021.
Déclaration conjointe. 2018. Déclaration conjointe des Premiers ministres français et belge sur la coopération en matière de sécurité intérieure et de lutte contre le terrorisme. https://www.gouvernement.fr/partage/10286-declaration-conjointe-des-premiers-ministres-francais-et-belge-sur-la-cooperation-en-matiere-de. Accessed 12 March 2021.
Ditrych, O. 2013. “International terrorism” in the League of Nations and the contemporary terrorism dispositif. Critical Studies on Terrorism 6 (2): 225–240.
Dunham, W., and J. Edwards. 2015. U.S. strike inadvertently killed U.S., Italian hostages; Obama apologizes. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-security-hostages-idUSKBN0NE1MI20150423. Accessed 12 March 2021.
European Council. 2021. Council of the European Union: EU's response to the terrorist threat. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/fight-against-terrorism/. Accessed 12 March 2021.
European Union. 2018. Summary of Directive (EU) 2017/541 on combating terrorism. Fight against terrorism – definitions of terrorist crimes and support to victims. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=LEGISSUM%3A4322328. Accessed 12 March 2021.
Galani, S. 2019. Terrorist hostage-taking and human rights: Protecting victims of terrorism under the European Convention on Human Rights. Human Rights Law Review 19 (1): 149–171.
Guillaume, G. 2004. Terrorism and international law. International & Comparative Law Quarterly 53 (3): 537–548.
Held, V. 2004. Terrorism and war. The Journal of Ethics 8 (1): 59–75.
Henne, P. 2019. Terrorism and religion: An overview. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Interpol. 2021. Tracing terrorist finances. https://www.interpol.int/Crimes/Terrorism/Tracing-terrorist-finances. Accessed 12 March 2021.
Kopotun, I. 2020. Scientific and practical commentary on the Criminal Code of Ukraine As of October 8, 2020. https://cul.com.ua/preview/npk_kk_18.pdf. Accessed 12 March 2021.
Loertscher, S., and D. Milton. 2018. Prisoners and politics: Western hostage taking by militant groups. Democracy and Security 14 (1): 1–23.
Makarov, G.S. 2015. The history of the development of Soviet criminal legislation on responsibility for terrorism. Young Scientist 11 (1): 1078–1080.
Margariti, S. 2017. Defining international terrorism. International Criminal Justice Series 15: 109–144.
Mayers, D. 2015. Humanity in 1948: The genocide convention and the universal declaration of human rights. Diplomacy & Statecraft 26 (3): 446–472.
OSCE. 2018. Status of the universal anti-terrorism conventions and protocols as well as other international and regional legal instruments related to terrorism and co-operation in criminal matters in the OSCE area. OSCE. https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/5/8/17138_0.pdf. Accessed 12 March 2021.
Pershits, A.I., L.R. Bäck, H.J.M. Claessen, S. Fuchs, E. Gellner, G.W. Hewes, K.F. Koch, K. Nakhleh, A. Nishimura, L. Pospisil, and N.J. Singer. 1977. The primitive norm and its evolution [and comments]. Current Anthropology 18 (3): 409–417.
Petrova, E.A. 2015. The main approaches to the structure of the rule of law in various legal traditions. Lex Russica 1: 84–95.
Popovich, O.S. 2018. Subjective side of a terrorist act: Problems of qualification of this crime. Scientific Bulletin of Uzhhorod National University: Series: Law 2 (51): 84–87.
Potemkina, O.Y. 2015. New policy instruments of the European Union in the field of combating terrorism. Moscow University Bulletin Series 25 International Relations and World Politics 7 (2): 51–72.
Ravndal, J.A. 2018. Explaining right-wing terrorism and violence in Western Europe: Grievances, opportunities and polarisation. European Journal of Political Research 57 (4): 845–866.
Romanova, O.V. 2016. Policy of the European Union in the context of the threat of international terrorism. Actual Problems of Politics 57: 115–123.
Sanchez-Cuenca, I. 2007. The dynamics of nationalist terrorism: ETA and the IRA. Terrorism and Political Violence 19 (3): 289–306.
Saygili, A. 2019. Concessions or crackdown: How regime stability shapes democratic responses to hostage taking terrorism. Journal of Conflict Resolution 63 (2): 468–501.
Sotula, O.S. 2015. Premeditated murder of a hostage or abducted person: Comparative aspects. Scientific Bulletin of Kherson State University Series: Juridical Sciences 3 (3): 48–51.
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. 2015. Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated January 27, 1999 No. 1. 2015. https://www.vsrf.ru/documents/own/7794/. Accessed 12 March 2021.
Tertishnik, V.M. 2017. Scientific and practical commentary to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Kharkiv: ASK.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. 2019. On temporary measures for the period of the anti-terrorist operation. https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1669-18#Text. Accessed 12 March 2021.
U.S. Code. n.d. 18 U.S. Code § 1203 - Hostage taking https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1203. Accessed 12 March 2021.
U.S. Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2005. Terrorism 2002/2005 https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terrorism-2002-2005. Accessed 12 March 2021.
UK Public General Acts. 1982. Taking of Hostages Act 1982. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1982/28/body#:~:text=1%20Hostage%2Dtaking.,U.K.&text=(b)in%20order%20to%20compel,commits%20an%20offence. Accessed 12 March 2021.
Vidican, R.D. 2018. The importance of analyzing the structure of the legal norm in order to interpret and to apply correctly the law. Agora International Journal of Juridical Sciences 2: 102–106.
Vishnevetsky, K.V. 2013. Terrorism. Victimological aspect. Theory and Practice of Social Development 5 (1): 333–340.
Voronovich, V.V. 2005. The main reasons, prerequisites and factors for the spread of terrorism in the XXI century. Journal of International Law and International Relations 4: 39–45.
Welch, K. 2019. Race, ethnicity, and the War on Terror. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wojtasik, K. 2019. Simulated hostage taking and its consequences Orlando Shooting Case. Przegląd Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego 11 (20): 368–381.
Zivaty, V.G. 2000. The UN in the foreign policy dialogue of civilizations West-East (From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) to progress in the XXI century). Scientific Bulletin of the Diplomatic Academy of UkrAine 31 (1): 67–72.
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
There are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sainchyn, O., Hromova, M., Gushchyn, O. et al. Specifics of the legal regulation of the prevention of the taking and killing of hostages in the context of terrorist threats. Secur J 35, 1087–1101 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-021-00315-0
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-021-00315-0