The Insignificance of Action as a Category of Criminal Law: Problems and Perspectives of Application

The article is dedicated to investigation of problems and perspectives of application of the insignificance of action as a category of criminal law. It is found out that the insignificance of action is a legislative way of demarcation of crimes from other actions, which is a certain guarantee of providing of fairness of the criminal law and economy of criminally-legal repression. A legislative construction about the insignificance of action is an evaluation concept, which is also a way of enforceable decriminalization. The essence of the insignificance of action includes it’s evaluation character and property to provide fairness and individualization of imposition of criminal penalty. The features of this criminally-legal category are absence of public danger, connection with discretionary authorities and possibility of engaging for other kind of legal liability. An absence of public danger in action is a main criterion for recognition an action as insignificant and it is expressed in absence of significant damage. It is also determined that main aspects of application of the insignificance of action are established with court practice and science of criminal law. They concern to formal presence in a committed act of signs of a composition of a crime, absence of typical for a certain crime public danger and absence of subjective tendency on causing of significant damage. A necessity of saving and further using of the rule of law about the insignificance of action is pointed. Problematic aspects of criminal rule of law about the insignificance of action, which include a collision, a fiction and a contradiction to unity of terminology, are revealed and analyzed. It is suggested to formulate the rule of law about the insignificance of action in such version: “The action or inaction is not a crime if it is not publically dangerous and because of the insignificance it does not amount a public danger for protected with law about criminal liability objects, namely it did not cause and could not cause enough for qualification an action as a crime injury for individual or legal entity, society or state”