Worthless

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A term from Austrian and German criminal law is unworthy . A distinction is made between unworthy of success , unworthy of action and disinterestedness . Disvalue plays a subordinate role as an element of the doctrine of injustice, since criminal law as such is to be understood as outdated.

In Austrian criminal law , the illegal act itself and its effects are called injustice . This term is quantifiable, there are graver and easier wrongs.

  • The worthlessness of the prohibited act represents the first stage of injustice, the so-called worthless act . A distinction must be made between intent and negligence , which can be quantified in each case ( contingent intent - direct intent, slight negligence - gross negligence).
  • If the so-called negative value for success arises as a result, the injustice as a whole increases. What is meant is that the act of the perpetrator has consequences, but these must also be attributable to the act of the perpetrator - the agent is not responsible for consequences that, for example, third parties or the victim himself or herself or that are outside of absolutely any life experience.
    • The primary non-success value describes the occurrence of a specific risk . This is the case when the object of action comes into the specific area of ​​action of the dangerous action, but no violation occurs.
    • The secondary non-success value then describes the occurrence of the injury success, the realization of the danger.

Examples of this:

  1. Driver A is cutting a confusing curve; it cannot be ruled out that another vehicle will come towards you. Fortunately, no other vehicle is coming, the action is specifically dangerous (it is dangerous because it is not certain that the lane is clear).
  2. A cuts the curve as before, but this time another vehicle approaches. A collision can be avoided at the last moment. In this case, in addition to the ineffective action (example 1), there is also a primary ineffectual value , namely the specific danger for all vehicle occupants. This danger is an outgrowth of the dangerous action (cutting the confusing curve, example 1) and thus increases the unworthiness as a whole.
  3. A cuts the curve again, but this time there is a collision with the oncoming vehicle, in which the driver A is injured / all people are injured / all people die. In all three variants, in addition to the specifically dangerous action (example 1), an attributable injury success ( i.e. a secondary non-success value ) is added. Of course, each of the three variants has a different one, but each represents a success.

The extent of the injustice carried out influences the amount of the penalty.

Both unfavorable values ​​- unfavorable action and unfavorable success - are logically dependent on each other: an unfavorable action without negligible success is possible (a dangerous action without something happening = example 1), but not an attributable unfavorable success without an associated dangerous action.

According to the external description of the offenses in the Austrian Criminal Code (StGB), a distinction can be made between:

  • So-called simple activity offenses, in which only a certain act is required to produce the full injustice of the offense (for example, quacking ( § 184 StGB) - the injustice of the act is solely the act of the offender and is also established if the treatment is good or bad is)
  • so-called success crimes , in which a change in the outside world (a success) is required (for example murder (§ 75 StGB) - the murder is only an accomplished murder according to § 75 StGB if the victim really dies and the death is due to the act of the Otherwise, for example, there may be (merely) attempted murder: A shoots at B, misses him - the required success (death of victim B) is missing in the act, which is why the successful crime of murder is not fulfilled (however, the suitable attempt in the Austrian Criminal law equated with the completed offense by § 15 StGB, which is why the attempted murder of A on B is punishable as a completed murder, but there is an extenuating reason for A, since the success has just failed). Many offenses of the Austrian StGB do not describe the offense in more detail, only success. Therefore, the way in which success is achieved is irrelevant (see, for example, murder according to § 75 StGB: "Whoever kills another is free to punish its penalty of ten to twenty years or life imprisonment "- shooting, poisoning, hanging, being run over with the car - all these are suitable acts for § 75). Such offenses are referred to as success-causation offenses .)

literature

  • Helmut Fuchs: Austrian Criminal Law General Part 1. 6th edition. Springer Verlag, 2004, p. 72 ff.
  • Hans-Heinrich Jescheck , Thomas Weigend : Textbook of criminal law, general part. 5th edition. Duncker & Humblot Verlag, 1996, p. 8, 49 ff.