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Karolina Kremens, LL.M., Ph.D.Wojciech Jasiński, Ph.D.

Department of Criminal ProcedureFaculty of Law, Administration and

EconomicsUniversity of Wrocław

Class XVICRIMES - OVERVIEW

Criminal Law I

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

MOST COMMON DISTINCTION• felonies• misdemeanors• petty offences

Great Britain (current perspective)• indictable offences• summary offences• either-way offences

France• le crime• le delit• la contravention

see class with dr Jasiński (Structure of an offence I)

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

WORK IN PAIRS:

What distinct groups of crimes can you describe?

What are the criteria to put crimes in certain groups?

In what order they should be organized and why?

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

GENERALLY

• building groups of crimes around legal interests

• crimes against particular victim• victimless crimes – crimes lacking an

individual victim but affecting the society

• environmental crimes• bribery• damaging communications

• group of crimes affecting only feelings• defamation of religious beliefs• disturbing a religious service• public denial of the Holocaust

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

GENERALLY

• first crimes against state followed by crimes against person

• Germany• France

• first crimes against person followed by crimes against state

• Switzerland• Sweden

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

GENERALLY

•no established and generally accepted classification and order of crimes within systems of law

•regulation of crimes:• in Penal Codes / Codes of

Criminal Law• in separate statutes remaining

outside of the scope of the Code

•common law style of codification of criminal law

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

GENERALLY

•justification for leaving some crimes in a separate statute outside of the scope of the code:

• specified fields of law that provide all together general understanding of the issue, certain notions that relate to these crimes

• e.g. copyright law, competition law

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

GENERALLY

•application of the rule regarding particular type of crime must be undertaken taking into account regulations from the general part of the Criminal Code

• rules on criminal liability• forms of commitment of an

offence (inchoate crimes and complicity)

• sanctioning

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

GERMANY

• organizing the structure of the Penal Code around the legal interests (Rechtsgüter) that are protected

• structure:• protection of interests of state• protection of interests of family• protection of interests of

individual• typically offenses against person

regulated before offenses against property

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

GERMANY• Ch. 1. Crimes against the Peace of Nations,

High Treason; Endangering the Democratic State under the Rule of Law

• Ch. 2. Treason and Endangering External National Security

• Ch. 3. Offences against Foreign States• Ch. 4. Offences against Constitutional

Organs and in the Context of Elections and Ballots

• Ch. 5. Offences against the National Defence

• Ch.6. Resistance against State Authority• Ch. 7. Offences against Public Order• Ch. 8. Counterfeiting of Money and Official

Stamps• Ch. 9. False Testimony and Perjury• Ch. 10. False Accusation• Ch. 11. Offences Related to Religion and

Ideology

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

GERMANY

• Ch. 12. Offences Related to the Personal Status Registry, Marriage and the Family

• Ch. 13. Offences against Sexual Self-Determination

• Ch. 14. Libel and Slander• Ch. 15. Violation of Privacy• Ch.16. Offences against Life• Ch. 17. Offences against the Person• Ch. 18. Offences against Personal Freedom

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

GERMANY

•Ch. 19. Theft and Unlawful Appropriation•Ch. 20. Robbery and Blackmail•Ch. 21. Assistance after the Fact and handling stolen goods•Ch. 22. Fraud and Embezzlement•Ch. 23. Forgery•Ch. 24. Offences in the State of Insolvency•Ch. 25. Criminal Self-Seeking•Ch. 26. Restrictive Practices Offences•Ch. 27. Criminal Damage•Ch. 28. Offences Causing a Common Danger•Ch. 29. Offences against the Environment•Ch. 30. Offences committed in Public Office

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

POLAND

• codified system of law • similar tendency as in Germany to

include in the Code most crimes• grouped by the criteria of legal interest• the order made by the hierarchy of

goods protected by the criminal law

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

UNITED STATES

• Model Penal Code:• drafted by the American Law

Institute (practitioners, professors etc.)

• bringing uniformity and clarity to many fields of law

• 1985 – publishing of Model Penal Code

• separate state codes following to some extent the Model Penal Code

• grouping offenses according to the interest they concern

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

UNITED STATES

• Model Penal Code (structure):• Offenses Involving Danger to the

Person• Offenses against Property• Offenses against the Family• Offenses against Public

Administration• Offenses against Public Order

and Decency

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

ENGLAND AND WALES

• no criminal code for England and Wales• no overarching structure to the offences

forming the special part

• old common law distinction:• treason• felony • misdemeanor

• this classification has been replaced by the distinction into “indictable offences” and “summary offences”

CRIMES - OVERVIEW

INTERNATIONAL CRIMES

• protection of the fundamental values of the international community: the “peace, security and well-being of the world”

• but also protection of “the legal values of individuals”

• double structure:• prohibited individual act• committed in the context of

collective violence (contextual element)

• crimes: • genocide• crimes against humanity• war crimes• crime of aggression