Abstract: The aim of the research is to analyze criminal law characteristic of Article 158.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as well as the need to implement provisions of aforesaid article in practice. The subject of the research is the criminal law characteristic of Article 158.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, in particular, objective and subjective features of this crime structure based on the analysis of opinions of experts in criminal law. The object of the research is the social relations that arise as a consequence of petty theft by an individual subject to administrative punishment. In her research Smirnova has applied general research methods such as analysis, synthesis, deduction, analogy, classification, summary of research data, etc. Methods of special sciences included comparative law analysis, technical legal method and regulatory analysis. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that Smirnova discovers social dependence of criminal responsibility for the commitment of petty theft that is closely related to historical processes, the need to criminalize petty theft committed by an individual who had been earlier subject to administrative sanctions. Moreover, Smirnova analyses criminal law characteristic of this kind of crime in relation to practical implementation of associated laws and regulations and studies objective and subjective features of petty theft. The author focuses on peculiarities of criminal law characteristics of the corpus delicti and establishment of administrative prejudice in the criminal law.