The Crime Concept In Criminal Jurisprudence Of Our Country

The concept of crime is a fundamental question in the criminal law, as to which there is great controversy among Chinese and foreign scholars. The mainstream opinion in our country holds that crime refers to an act that endangers the society and should be punishable by penalty according to the law, which is supported by some scholars while criticized by others. This article reinforces the mainstream opinion on one hand and explains its concrete contents on the other hand.In the part of the introduction, it expounds on the philosophy of the crime concept and its legal foundation, and defines its meaning and requirements. In the part of the comparative study, it makes an analysis of different crime concepts among Continent law system, Common law system and China' law system, and of rationality of the mixed concept of crime in our country, arguing that it is a scientific concept for its possession of both rationality of existence and rationality of value.In the part of the " essence of the crime ", it points out that the social harmfulness punishable by penalty is the essence of the crime, defines the social harmfulness punishable by penalty. And still it puts forward some views on judgment and behavior of the social harmfulness punishable by penalty, advocating for legislative quantitativeness in present legal environment and abolishment of reeducational system through labour.In the part of the " legal characteristic of the crime ", it points out that violation of criminal law is the only legal characteristic of crime, and explains respectively the contents of illegality in Continent law system and violation of criminal law in ours to distinguish the two concepts. Also it explains the relationship between violation of criminal law and constituents of crime, and the dialection of violation of criminal law and the social harmfulness punishable by penalty.Based on such an analysis, this article draws the conclusion thatthe mixed concept of crime is a rational concept, so the 1997 Penal Code possesses its rationality; and at the same time, it advocates to express separately the essence of crime and its legal characteristics for some expressive defects.