The definition of a crime  

美国对犯罪与违法的法理界定

作　　者：冯晓丹[1] 翁裹[2] 

机构地区：[1]浙江大学宁波理工学院,宁波315100 [2]浙江大学光华法学院,杭州310028

出　　处：《US-China Law Review》2010年第9期23-27,共5页美中法律评论（英文版）

摘　　要：This article presents a philosophical account of the nature of crime. It argues that the criminal law contains both fault-based crimes and strict liability offences which respectively represent different paradigms of liability. It goes on to argue that the gist of fault-based crimes lies in their being public wrongs, not （as is often thought） because they wrong the public, but because the public is responsible for punishing them, i.e. they merit state punishment. What makes wrongs deserving of punishment is that they are seriously blameworthy, in as much as they evince disrespect for the values violated. But they only merit state punishment when they violate important values, not simply due to the well-known pragmatic considerations against the use of the criminal law, but to the intrinsic expressive force of criminal conviction. Finally, the analysis of fault-based crimes points to a role for strict liability in regulating actions that are not seriously blameworthy but do increase the risk of values being damaged.本文阐述的是美国关于犯罪本质的哲学解释。刑罚既包括过错犯罪。也包括严格责任违法，这两者代表了两种不同的刑事责任类型。美国学界主张过错犯罪的要点在于其是侵害公众利益的不法行为，并非由于其危害公众利益，而是因为公众负责处罚此类行为，即它们应该得到国家的处罚。不法行为得到惩罚是因其性质严重，它们不敬重社会公认的价值；只有当行为人违反重要价值时才应得到处罚，不仅是出于对刑法实用主义的考虑，亦取决于罪刑法定原则的内涵。美国学者分析过错犯罪和不太严重的违法行为，认为后者同样存在着损害公众利益的危险。

关 键 词：American criminal law theory fault-based crimes offences of strict liability 

分 类 号：D90[政治法律—法学理论]