The article analyzes the legislative models for the classification of crimes (criminal acts) of the former Soviet republics and their impact on criminal law consequences . The author puts forward a proposal for borrowing promising norms for the domestic system of categories of crimes . The analysis of the categorization of crimes in the Russian Federation was carried out. An intermediate conclusion is made about the legislator ignoring the rules on the unity of dividing these categories, since in addition to the nature and degree of social danger of the crime, the form of guilt is also taken into account — first as part of a sanction that reflects the nature and degree of social danger of the crime, and then as an independent criterion. In this regard, foreign categorization models are described and presented for comparison .