Crime time
In criminal law, the time of the offense refers to the point in time or period in which a criminal act is committed.
General
The decisive point is the point in time at which the perpetrator undertakes an act that realizes the offense (in the case of activity crimes ) or is intended to carry out (in the case of successful crimes ). The time of the offense extends to the entire time of the accusable and attributable activity, it extends in the case of long-term offenses ( deprivation of liberty : § 239 StGB, endangerment of road traffic : § 315c StGB, drunkenness in traffic : § 316 StGB) up to the conclusion of the accusable long-term behavior.
The scene and time of the crime are at the core of the crime stage . Traces and witnesses (crime scene) concentrate on them ; they provide information about whether or not someone is a possible perpetrator (time of the offense). It is much more likely that the perpetrator is someone who was at the crime scene at the time of the crime than that the perpetrator is someone who was not at the crime scene at the time of the crime. Anyone who was not at the scene of the crime at the time of the crime can only be considered as a perpetrator if he is an accomplice or an investigator or if a remote-controlled device was used. The age of the perpetrator at the time of the crime, in turn, determines whether someone can be punished or not. If a suspect can produce an alibi during the time of the crime , he will not be considered as a perpetrator.
Legal issues
According to Section 8 of the Criminal Code, an offense is committed at the time when the perpetrator or the participant acted or should have acted in the event of failure to act. This established time of the crime is usually important for the defendant to prepare his defense in the direction of whether he could have been at the scene at the alleged time. The time of the offense is also of importance for the criminal's legal age . However, the law does not speak of the time of the offense, but of the time of the act or the commission of the act.
Incapacity
According to § 19 StGB, children who have not yet reached the age of 14 at the time of the offense are absolutely incompetent . Here - regardless of their individual level of development - the existence of the incapacity for guilt is irrefutably presumed. A person who is at least 14 years old but not yet 18 years old at the time of the offense ( young person within the meaning of Section 1 (2 ) JGG ) is generally culpable - by the reverse of Section 19 StGB. According to Section 3 Clause 1 of the JGG, however, culpability is positively determined ( conditional culpability ). The young person must be mature enough after his spiritual and moral development to see the injustice of his act and to act according to this insight . From the age of 18, full responsibility occurs, unless there are indications to the contrary. In Section 20 of the Criminal Code, it is determined when, as an exception, there is a debt incapacity, in Section 21 of the Criminal Code when, as an exception, there is significantly reduced debt.
If the perpetrator is incapable of guilt “when committing the act” (§§ 19, 20 StGB), he can not be punished for this act due to lack of guilt . According to Section 21 of the Criminal Code, the punishment can be reduced because of reduced guilt (optional reason to mitigate the sentence according to Section 49, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code) if the perpetrator's ability to control his behavior is significantly reduced due to one of the characteristics mentioned in Section 20 of the Criminal Code , while maintaining the ability to discern was.
Stage of offense
In the offense stage , the time of the offense falls at the point in time at which the perpetrator immediately starts to realize the offense, i.e. no further preparatory actions are required until the offense is realized . Section 200, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure names the time and place of the crime as defining features, but these features are not alone. Other circumstances, in particular details of the commission of the offense, also serve to specify the offense. The time of the offense and the place of the offense can be supplemented or replaced as defining features. The criminal justice judge must ensure that intoxicants and narcotics (e.g. alcohol, drugs) are consumed close to the crime .
During the time of the offense, personal injury and / or property damage may occur , which can play a role in determining the sentence (e.g. bodily harm , property damage ). A “watertight” alibi excludes suspects as criminals. The alibi proof is based on the reliable empirical principle that no one can be in two different places at the same time, and the assumption that no one can be the perpetrator who was not at the crime scene at the time. The latter assumption is probabilistic , however , since someone can be at the crime scene but has nothing to do with the crime or someone may have committed the crime who was not at the crime scene.
End of the offense
According to Section 2 (1) of the Criminal Code, the punishment and its secondary consequences ( secondary punishments ) are determined by the law that applies at the time of the offense. If, in accordance with Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code, the law that applies when the offense is terminated is changed before the court decision, the most lenient law shall apply ( Latin Lex mitior ). The end of the offense often coincides with the end of the offense, i.e. with the conclusion of the offense. Therefore, the time of the offense also plays a role in the statute of limitations . The statute of limitations begins as soon as the act has ended ( Section 78a StGB). If an offense that is part of the offense occurs later, the statute of limitations begins at this point in time ( Section 78a of the Criminal Code). The limitation period for all crimes - except for murder and genocide - in § 78 paragraph 3 StGB regulated.. If the offense is statute-barred, it may no longer be prosecuted by the law enforcement authorities and no longer brought to justice . The statute of limitations is to be taken into account ex officio .
Individual evidence
- ^ Klaus Tiedemann, Leipziger Comment StGB, introduction; §§ 1-31 , 2007, p. 620
- ^ Klaus Tiedemann , Leipziger Comment StGB, introduction; §§ 1-31 , 2007, p. 621
- ↑ Mark Schweizer, Evaluation of Evidence and Measure of Evidence , 2015, p. 225
- ↑ BGH, judgment of July 6, 1960, Az .: 2 StR 305/60
- ↑ BGH, decision of April 4, 2017, Az .: BGH 2 StR 409/16
- ↑ Horst Clages / Rolf Ackermann (eds.), Der rote Faden , 2017, p. 181
- ↑ Mark Schweizer, Evaluation of Evidence and Measure of Evidence: Rationality and Intuition , 2015, p. 225
