What is criminal offence?

Criminal offence definition

A criminal offence is an illegal act identified as criminal by the Criminal Code, which shows the characteristics stated in the Code.

Only criminal law shall define criminal offences. It also sets out the criminal sanctions that can be imposed for their commission.

Misdemeanours, felonies and especially serious felonies

Criminal offences are further divided into sub-categories. These are then dealt with in the legislation. For example, the Criminal Code allows for certain types of diversion (settlement of a criminal case in an alternative, less severe way) only for misdemeanours.

• Misdemeanours are all negligent criminal offences and such intentional criminal offences for which the Criminal Code stipulates a sentence of imprisonment with the upper limit of up to five years.
• Felonies are all criminal offences that are not classified as misdemeanours under the Criminal Code.
• Especially serious felonies are those intentional criminal offences for which the Criminal Code prescribes a sentence of imprisonment with the upper limit of at least ten years.

The Criminal Code regulates individual criminal offences in its special part. For each of them, it sets out the conditions under which a given offence is committed - the so-called factual basis. For each criminal offence, there is a basic factual basis (usually in the first paragraph of a specific section) and a qualified factual basis. Qualified factual basis includes specific circumstances which, if met, result in a higher penalty.