犯罪定义新表述

A New Description of Definition of Crime

传统的犯罪定义是 :“犯罪是具有一定社会危害性、违反刑法并应当受到刑罚处罚的行为。”笔者认为 :①将“应当受到刑罚处罚”作为犯罪定义的组成部分不准确 ,也不宜作为犯罪的基本特征 ;②“一定的社会危害性”具有不确定性和变异性的特点 ,它主要是立法者的犯罪标准 ,而公民和司法人员只能服从刑法 ;③判断是否犯罪的标准只能是刑事违法性。笔者对犯罪定义的新表述是 :“犯罪是符合刑法规定的应当承担 (负 )刑事责任的行为。

The traditional definition of 'crime' is: 'A crime is the behavior which is harmful to the society in certain level and in violati on of the Criminal Law and should be punished with criminal penalty.' In the aut hor's opinion: (1) 'Should be punished with criminal penalty' is not appropriate to stand as one of the essential characteristics of a crime; (2) 'Harmful to th e society in certain level' is too elastic and too indefinite; it is a criterion set by the legislator when the law was made, however, and the general public an d the judges can only follow the provisions of the Criminal Law; (3) The only te st for whether a behavior constitutes a crime is whether it has violated the Cri minal Law. This author's proposal for the new definition of a crime is: 'A crime is a behavior within the definition of the provisions of the Criminal Law and s hould be subject to criminal penalty.