Success qualification
Success qualification , also a successful offense or often a successful offense , is a legal term from German criminal law . This qualification is characterized by the fact that a basic offense is intentionally fulfilled and, in addition, a qualified success occurs and is caused, which is punished more severely. The occurrence of qualified success means an immediate realization of the specific risk associated with the basic offense.
Success qualification (Germany)
A classic example of a successful qualification in the German Criminal Code (StGB) is serious bodily harm according to § 226 StGB. It is of a criminal nature , as a minimum sentence of one year imprisonment is threatened. Basic offense is the offense injury according to § 223 of the Criminal Code, for the fine and a maximum penalty of five years at least provided. This range of punishment is increased to one to ten years imprisonment if the victim sustains certain irreversible damage (e.g. blindness , loss of a limb , disfigurement ). Since § 226 StGB also constitutes a crime, it is controversial in terms of criminal policy whether the negligence of a criminal act alone is sufficient to punish not from an offense like § 223 StGB, but from a crime according to § 226 StGB.
Further examples are bodily harm resulting in death (Sections 223, - possibly 224 - 227 StGB), robbery resulting in death (Sections 249 - possibly 250 -, 251 StGB), deprivation of liberty resulting in death (Section 239 (1), 4 StGB) or arson resulting in death (§§ 306, - possibly 306a, 306b - 306c StGB).
The qualifications for success are characterized by a particularly high range of penalties . This results from their systematics. Structurally, the basic fact is to be assumed, in which a serious success occurs, which is not covered by this basic offense, but by a separate qualifying fact. In comparison with the basic fact, the disqualification for action is the same in the qualification for success . The reason for the higher threat of punishment is solely the increased unworthiness compared to the basic offense . However, the punishment according to the penalty framework for the successful offense according to § 18 StGB only occurs if the offender is at least negligent with regard to the consequence of the offense describing the qualification. In addition to various degrees of negligence, this also includes all forms of intent .
In German criminal law, a special link between the basic offense and successful qualification was designed for the interpretation of the facts. In the so-called Rötzel case , the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) had demanded a direct connection between the deliberate act and the serious consequence for bodily harm resulting in death . The more recent case law, on the other hand, only requires the implementation of a basic crime-specific (“crime-typical”) risk of death in success.
For information on attempted criminality, see under Successful attempt .
Success qualification (Austria)
The Austrian Criminal Law stipulates success skills such as criminal law in Germany. According to Section 7 (2) of the Austrian Criminal Code (StGB), the punishment for a successful offense requires that the perpetrator has at least negligently carried out the more serious result. In contrast to German criminal law, however, the Austrian legal system has consequences that do not constitute a result of their own at all, such as the qualified success “misery of many people” in the case of arson in Section 169 (3) StGB. (In contrast to this is the result of death, the negligent bringing about of which is also punishable in itself.) In addition, a direct link as a link between the basic fact and successful qualification has not established itself in either literature or legal practice.
Past intentionality (Italy)
Italian criminal law provides a separate form of guilt, the so-called preterintention (Italian: preterintenzione , from Latin praeter , beyond, and intentio , -ionis , intention) for cases that fall under the successful qualification in Germany . It is defined in Article 43 of the Italian Criminal Code. In the special part of the core criminal law there is only one crime that includes the term "preterintention": the preterintentional killing according to Art. 584 iStGB. In terms of content, the offense corresponds to German bodily harm resulting in death in Section 227 of the Criminal Code. The interpretation is extremely controversial in jurisprudence and literature: while the Italian supreme court tends to be liable for success , the more recent literature advocates an interpretation based on the principle of guilt .
literature
- Kai Ambos : Preterintentionality and Qualification for Success - Comparative Law , in: Goltdammers Archive for Criminal Law, 2002, pp. 455–482.
- Thomas Rönnau : Basic Knowledge - Criminal Law: Success Qualified Offense , in: JuS 2020, pp. 108–112.
- Claus Roxin : Criminal Law. General part. (Part 1). 3. Edition. Beck Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-42507-0 , pp. 275-281.
- Lukas Staffler: Past intentionality and attribution dogmatics. On the interpretation of bodily harm resulting in death in a legal comparison between Germany and Italy , Duncker & Humblot publishing house, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-428-14637-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Milan Kuhli : The attempt at the successful offense. JuS 2020, 289-297 (290).
- ^ BGH: judgment of September 30, 1970, file number 3 StR 119/70 .
- ^ BGH: Judgment of October 9, 2002, file number 5 StR 42/02 = BGHSt 48, 34 ( Gubener Hetzjagd ).
