Conflict of interest in criminal liability for corruption-related offences

Volume 4, Number 4, 2019, P. 319–326

[ JURIDICAL SCIENCES ]

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Abstract:

The author considers the concept and system of criminal responsibility grounds that are interpreted as a settled and resolved contradiction. It describes the levels of the grounds for criminal liability as a phenomenon of objective law (criminal law prohibition). These grounds are specificated in the context of corruption-related crimes. The concept of a conflict of interest and its relationship with these crimes are analyzed. The author applies formal legal, social legal, and comparative methods. As the legal definitions of the concept of “conflict of interest” are sufficiently detailed in modern legal literature, the article focuses on determining the place of this phenomenon in the system of grounds for criminal liabi lity for corruption-related crimes. This system is formed by three levels where the third one is a corpus delicti that is the basis of criminal liability as a phenomenon of subjective law. The second level is the contradiction between the public danger of harming the benefits and values, the protection of which the society is interested in using criminal law means, on the one hand, and the social need for protecting these values from socially-dangerous infringement, on the other hand. Such a contradiction is resolved by designation of a criminal law prohibition. The conflict of interest is the third level of grounds, and it is an intrapersonal contradiction, the resolution of which can create a threat to the values and interests protected by the criminal law. In line with this situation of a conflict of interest in the system of criminal responsibility grounds for corruption-related crimes, the author concludes that it is necessary to influence it to prevent such crimes.

Keywords:

grounds for criminal liability, criminal law prohibition, social contradiction, conflict of interest, corruption-related crimes

Author:

Egor A. Kulikov, Cand. Sci. (Juridical Sciences), Associate Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology Department, Altai State University, Barnaul, Russia

For citation:

Kulikov E.A. (2019) Conflict of interest in criminal liability for corruption-related offences. Social Competence. Vol. 4. No. 4. P. 319–326. (In Russ.)

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