REPEATED CRIMINAL OFFENSES: THE PROBLEM OF LEGAL DEFINITION

Abstract

 Part 1 of Article 12 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan is considered. The specified norm is a definition of a special legal term "the incredibility of criminal offenses.

This rule contains several problems and doesn’t meet the basic requirements of the legislative machinery with regard to norm-definitions. The first, the rule of unambiguity of the normative content of the relevant provision is violated (at a higher level - the principle of legal certainty). The second, the definition of "the incredibility of criminal offenses" is incomplete. The definition does not set forth all those specific features that are of legal significance.

To solve this problem, the concept of "identical crimes" is considered. The term "identical crimes" is understood to mean crimes that in the criminal law, as a general rule, are provided for in a separate article under the same name. Examples of such crimes are rape, ruffianism. In the theory of criminal law, there are several additional guidelines:

1. a) normative reference - the wording of "a crime is provided by the same article or part of an article";
2. b) a benchmark of theoretical content - the legal composition of the crimes committed.

Taking into account the above arguments, the author proposes a new version of Part 1, Article 12 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.