The Concept of Offence and the Classification of Offences in the Criminal Law of Ukraine

Abstract

This paper discusses the problems of the development of offence studies in the theory of
Ukrainian criminal law. The first understanding and normative description of the concept of offence
can be found most clearly in the oldest Ukrainian legal sources and in scientific sources. Nonetheless,
the authors focus their attention on the development of studies on the concept of offence on the
territory of contemporary Ukraine from the beginning of the Soviet period till present times.
The authors reach the conclusion that although the Soviet jurisprudence began its development
from a total denial of the achievements of its national and foreign criminal jurisprudence, as
a consequence of evolutionary development it managed to elaborate a scholarly justified positions
referring to the understanding of the essence of offence, distinguishing it from non-criminal acts, the
classification of offences, which formed the basis of contemporary criminal law approach to these
problems in Ukraine.
Contemporary criminal law defines offence as a socially dangerous and culpable act (action
or omission), committed by the subject of the offence. The criminal jurisprudence recognises the
following obligatory features: 1) the act is socially dangerous; 2) the act is defined by the Criminal
Code of Ukraine; 3) the act is culpable; 4) the act was committed by the subject of the offence;
5) the socially harmful act is punishable. The lack of any of these features means an act constitutes
no offence.
Besides the authors analyse the difference between an offence and other socially harmful acts:
petty offences, torts etc. and they also make the classification of offences.