Introduction to Law Dersi 5. Ünite Sorularla Öğrenelim

What is Crime?

Criminal law plays a distinctive role in society, including the following functions: to deter people from doing acts that harm others or society; to set out the conditions under which people who have performed such acts will be punished; and to provide guidance on the kinds of behaviours which are considered as acceptable by society.

1. Legislature: According to the principle of legality, criminal prohibitions and sanctions should be based on written law.

The purpose of criminal law is to protect society so that its members can be reasonably secure in carrying out constructive activities.

What is the criminal law seeking to achieve?

Criminal law seeks:

• to enforce moral values;

• to punish those who deserve punishment;

• to protect the public from harm;

• to reform the offender;

• to deter offenders and potential offenders;

• to educate people about appropriate conduct and behaviour;

• to preserve order;

• to protect vulnerable people from exploitation and corruption.

Relative Theories of Punishment: Relative theories of punishment, namely the prevention theories, focus on preventing the repetitive behaviours rather than on what has happened before.

Absolute Theories of Punishment: Absolute theories of punishment –revenge, retribution, atonement- look back to the past, to the criminal deed and aim at balancing the harm done.

According to harm principle in John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, harm principle is described that a behaviour should not be criminal unless the behaviour causes harm to another person.

In continental legal thought, the concept of legal good which base on the idea that all offenses are there to defend specific legally protected interest has played an important role in the theory of criminalization.

Criminal law consists of two sections: a general and a special part. In general, principles that are applied to every kind of crime regulated in the special part, are located in the general part. Defining the specific crimes and arranging them into the groups by subject matter pertain to the special part of criminal law. The general principles are the fundamental regulations and apply, without exception, to defined crimes in special part.

With a simple definition, no one is accused until proven guilty. The burden is on the prosecution to prove the case. The principle burdens the prosecution with the proof of the committed offense.

In view of the criminal liability, criminal law is established on a three-legged stool. The first leg consists of objective and subjective elements that are related to the question of whether a person has fulfilled each element of the statutory description of an offense. The second leg is concerned with the question of whether the person’s behaviour was unlawful, and the third leg is related to the individual accountability of the person for the wrongdoing

What is "Objective Element-Actus Reus"?

The objective element- also called physical or external element- that describes a voluntary act or omission, refers to the part of the definition of the offense in the statutory law which relates to the actions of the perpetrator and their consequences.

The subjective element- also called the mental element- in crime is one of the most significant concepts of substantive criminal law.

Aiding refers to helping the principal at the time when the offense is committed.

According to the theory of last cause, the last condition is necessary for criminal liability. If another behaviour intervenes between the behaviour and its consequence, then the link is broken.

According to the theory of adequate causation, some acts are regarded as effective means for the commission of the crime, whereas other acts create a greater possibility of such commission.

According to the equivalence theory, each condition necessary for carrying out an action is considered as a cause.

Relating to the question of whether the person’s behaviour was unlawful, the justificatory defenses constitute the second step of the crime defined in the criminal code. Provisions of a statute, orders from superior, legitimate defense, use of a right and consent are the main justificatory defenses regulated in the TPC.

There are two types of mistakes—mistake about the legality of an action (“I did not know it was against the law.”) and mistake about an essential fact (“I did not know the goods were stolen.”)

Necessity