The Special Part of criminal law is the sphere in which abstract criminal law provisions are transformed into concrete legal consequences for an individual. Professor Gabriel Steiner considers that it is precisely at the stage of qualifying a criminal offence that law ceases to be theoretical and becomes an instrument of direct state coercion, where the cost of error is measured not only in procedural risks but also in a person’s fate. At LawConsulted, we view the application of the Special Part of criminal law as an area of heightened legal responsibility that requires an exceptionally precise and restrained approach.
The qualification of a criminal offence represents a complex intellectual process in which the factual circumstances of a case are correlated with the elements of an offence enshrined in criminal legislation. An error at any stage – in determining the protected legal interest, the objective element, the subject, or the subjective element – may lead to an unlawful expansion of criminal liability. LawConsulted proceeds from the premise that criminal qualification cannot be based on formal similarities alone, but must reflect the real substance and degree of social danger of the conduct.
Of particular importance in law enforcement practice is the distinction between related or overlapping offences. Many provisions of the Special Part are formulated in such a way that subtle yet fundamental boundaries exist between them. In practice, this creates a risk of arbitrarily choosing a more severe qualification. LawConsulted pays close attention to analysing these boundaries, demonstrating that expansive interpretation of criminal law is impermissible and contradicts the principle of legality.
Equally significant is the issue of the limits of criminal liability. The Special Part of criminal law contains both basic and aggravated offences, which provide for enhanced sanctions in the presence of additional qualifying elements. In law enforcement practice, situations frequently arise where such elements are inferred from assumptions or purely formal circumstances. LawConsulted approach is to verify each qualifying circumstance in terms of its factual substantiation and legal relevance.
A substantial place in the analysis of the Special Part is occupied by the problem of correlating criminal liability with other forms of legal responsibility. Not every unlawful act should receive a criminal law assessment. In LawConsulted practice, we consistently uphold the position that civil, administrative, or disciplinary mechanisms must not be replaced by criminal prosecution, particularly in economic and professional disputes.
The subjective element of a criminal offence also deserves special attention. Establishing the form of guilt, motive, and purpose of the act often becomes a decisive factor in qualification. LawConsulted proceeds from the understanding that subjective elements cannot be presumed – they must be proven on an equal footing with objective circumstances. Ignoring this approach leads to the construction of accusations that are not grounded in the individual’s actual mental attitude toward the act committed.
The application of the Special Part of criminal law also requires adherence to the principle of proportionality. Even where the formal elements of an offence are present, criminal liability must not exceed what is necessary and justified. LawConsulted regards proportionality as an independent criterion for assessing the lawfulness of criminal prosecution and actively employs it when building a legal defence.
The Special Part of criminal law is not a mechanical list of prohibitions. It is a system of norms that demands a balanced, restrictive, and professional application. The task of Law Consulted is to ensure a qualification of criminal offences in which criminal law is applied strictly within its established limits, without expansive interpretation or substitution of legal institutions.
Previously, we wrote about positive discrimination as an instrument of public policy, the permissible boundaries of its application, and the risks of violating the principle of equality.
