Structure of Public Danger: Correlation of the Corpus Delicti and Criminal Harm

Purpose of the study. The article deals with the problems of establishing the criminal law nature of public danger as a fundamental material feature of the general concept of a crime. The essence of the feature under consideration is characterized by two parameters: character and degree. The solution of the question of in what elements and signs of the corpus delicti the harm caused by the crime is expressed, determines the formation of the structure of the nature and degree of public danger. As a result, it becomes possible to build a theoretical model of the concept and structure of public danger, as well as to address the issue of intersectoral differentiation: whether the sign of public danger is characteristic only of crimes, or is inherent in offenses of other branches of law. The aim of the study is to build a theoretical model of the structure of public danger based on the correlation of the harm caused by the crime with the elements and signs of the corpus delicti. Findings. The harm caused by the crime is the result of the realization of public danger. With regard to the structure of the crime, a socially dangerous act (for formal and truncated crimes) or socially dangerous consequences (for material crimes), as signs of the objective side, are the amount of harm that is caused to the object of the crime. Thus, the structure of the nature of public danger and the degree of public danger is represented by two elements: the object and the objective side of the corpus delicti. The quantitative expression of the harm caused by a crime, or the threat of its infliction, is found in the objective side of the corpus delicti and the mandatory (socially dangerous act or socially dangerous consequences that have occurred) and optional features (time, place, method, environment of the commission of the crime) that characterize it, which form the degree of social danger. The object of the crime and its features determine the severity of the harm caused by the crime and form the structure of the nature of the public danger. At the same time, the nature and degree of public danger are closely interrelated. The significance of the committed act and the resulting socially dangerous consequences, which are structural components of the degree of social danger, is determined by the immediate object and the features that characterize it - forming the nature of public danger. The nature and degree of public danger of a crime of a certain type, provided for in the disposition of the criminal law norm, have a typical content. With regard to a specific crime, it becomes possible to indicate the committed socially dangerous act, the exact size of the socially dangerous consequences that have occurred and optional signs of the objective side (the degree of public danger), as well as the value of the direct, additional, optional objects and subject of the crime (the nature of public danger).

public danger, structure, nature and degree of public danger, criminal harm, elements and signs of a crime