Dirbtinis kriminalizavimas kaip teisinės praktikos patologija

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Atsakomybė; Baudžamosios teisės principai; Baudžiamoji atsakomybė; Dirbtinis kriminalizavimas; Kriminalizavimas; Nusikaltimas; Artificial criminalization; Crime; Criminal liability; Criminalization; Principles of criminal law; Responsibility.

ENThe article analyses the negative trend of legal practice, which the author calls the artificial criminalization. This notion identifies a situation where persons are being criminally prosecuted for deeds that lack hazard or belong to the regulation of other branches of law, as well as where persons are being artificially charged with a more serious crime than was actually committed. In most cases, such processes are not able to successfully pass all levels of court examination and eventually end in acquittal or properly changed conviction. But this fact does not diminish the relevance of the problem. It is completely normal when a person is acquitted because prosecution failed to prove her/his participation in a criminal act or to justify some kind of necessary element of a crime. However, the situation where a person has been acquitted by the court because the event was artificially tied to criminal law indicates a failure of the criminal justice mechanism. That is why the artificial criminalization is nothing more but an abuse of the criminal justice powers. The author distinguishes the following objective reasons of artificial criminalization: first, ambiguous and unclear statutory crime definitions that require interpretation; second, law enforcement activities directed to aggravate charges and to show good results in the fight against priority crimes; third, inadequate criminal justice "füter" that fails to preclude the criminal proceedings for petty human conflicts.The author argues that the subjective reasons for artificial criminalization are typical to some investigators, prosecutors and judges' formal attitude to the law, their habit of absolutizing the texts of statutes, as well as mechanical understanding of their role, and professional fatigue and deformation. One of the main conclusions of the article is that the modern legal doctrines always give the judge an opportunity to identify and overcome the artificial criminalization, to avoid unjustified convictions and make a reasonable decision in case. The author distinguishes the following forking legal instruments: various methods of interpretation of criminal law; adherence to the general and special legal principles, in particular, the principles of legality (nullum crimen sine lege), proportionality, criminal responsibility as a last resort (ultima ratio); the requirement to determine the proper dangerousness of the offense and precise opposition to the legal goods protected by the law; the requirement to disclose the exact content of the guilt (mens rea) of the accused and to avoid the objective imputation; the maxim of human rights protection and practice of European Court of Human Rights. The author illustrates his statements with concrete examples of court practice. [From the publication]

• Baudžiamosios atsakomybės už draudžiamus biomedicininius tyrimus įtvirtinimas Lietuvoje / Justyna Levon, Donatas Murauskas. Teisė. 2019, t. 113, p. 64-79.
• Criminalization of the promise and offer to give or accept a bribe as a completed criminal offense: compliance with the ultima ratio principle / Edita Gruodytė, Ugnė Urbšytė. Baltic journal of law & politics. 2021, Vol. 14, Nr. 2, p. 123-141.
• Development of property protection in criminal law during Lithuania’s independence / Armanas Abramavičius, Gintaras Švedas, Andželika Vosyliūtė. Legal developments during 30 years of Lithuanian independence: overview of legal accomplishments and challenges in Lithuania / editors: Gintaras Švedas, Donatas Murauskas. Cham : Springer, 2021. P. 43-60.
• Kai kurie vagystės kriminalizavimo probleminiai aspektai Lietuvos ir kitų užsienio šalių baudžiamuosiuose įstatymuose / Andželika Vosyliūtė, Albertas Milinis. Teisės apžvalga 2020, Nr. 2(22), p. 40-59.
• Lietuvos Aukščiausiojo Teismo vykdomo praktikos Baudžiamojo kodekso Specialiosios dalies klausimais formavimo tendencijos / Gintaras Švedas, Paulius Veršekys. Teisė. 2020, t. 117, p. 8-31.
• LR BK įtvirtintos seksualinio priekabiavimo veikos teisinio reguliavimo Lietuvoje atitiktis ultima ratio principui / Ugnė Urbšytė. Teisės apžvalga 2020, Nr. 2(22), p. 74-105.
• Nusikalstamo bankroto teisinio reguliavimo atitiktis ultima ratio principui: nacionaliniai ir tarptautiniai aspektai / Rasa Volungevičienė. Teisės apžvalga 2019, Nr. 1(19), p. 118-147.
• Nusikalstamu būdu gauto turto legalizavimas: tarptautiniai standartai, finansiniai tyrimai ir teismų praktika / Aurelijus Gutauskas. Teisės apžvalga 2019, Nr. 2(20), p. 133-151.
• Probleminiai sukčiavimo kvalifikavimo ir taikymo aspektai Lietuvos teismų praktikoje / Olegas Šibkovas. Teisės apžvalga 2017, Nr. 2 (16), p. 77-99.