Special offense
In contrast to the general offense , a special offense is a criminal offense that can only be carried out by a specific group of perpetrators, i.e. requires a particular personal characteristic from the perpetrator . Examples of special offenses in German law are, for example, official offenses (cf. § 331 ff. StGB), which are only committed by an official ( § 11, Paragraph 1, No. 2 StGB), or insolvency offenses ( § 283 ff Debtors in insolvency proceedings (formerly called joint debtors ) can be committed.
In the legal literature, a distinction is also made between genuine special offenses and bogus special offenses. Genuine special offenses can only be committed by offenders who have a certain qualification, e.g. B. Doctors, public officials. Unreal special offenses can be committed by anyone. In spurious special offenses, however, the property of the offender, e.g. B. working as a doctor or public official, have an influence on the sentence. Examples from German criminal law: Liberation of prisoners ( Section 120 (2) StGB), breach of custody ( Section 133 (3) StGB), obstruction of punishment in office ( Section 258a StGB) and bodily harm in office ( Section 340 StGB).
The classification of an offense as a special offense has consequences in particular for the question of the criminal liability of the participant , i.e. the instigator ( § 26 StGB ) or assistant ( § 27 StGB) - cf. Section 28 of the Criminal Code.
Handwritten offenses that are not restricted to a specific group of perpetrators but can only be committed by those who commit the offense themselves (personally) are not special offenses .
Sometimes special offenses are also designated as criminal offenses that contain all the characteristics of another offense, but are not a qualification , but a separate (basic) offense. This applies to robbery in relation to theft, for example. The more common name is delictum sui generis .
literature
- Claus Roxin : Criminal Law. General part. Volume .I 3rd edition. Beck, Munich 1997. ISBN 3-406-42507-0 . P. 283.
- Volker Hassemer : Delictum sui generis . Dissertation. ISBN 3-452-17840-4 or ISBN 3-452-17841-2 (1974 edition)
