Transport Administrative and Criminal Offenses

Abstract

Using the examples of transport offences under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (the RK CC) committed in 2014, the author identifies an unbalanced approach of the legislator to distinguishing between administrative and criminal acts in the process of the legal reform. It is noted that a number of transport offences were erroneously attributed to criminal offences regardless of the manner in which they were committed, the nature of injurious consequences and other significant legal grounds. The author justifies the conclusion that the main criterion for distinguishing between crimes, criminal offences and administrative offences is the degree and nature of their public danger. This criterion should form the basis of a legislative definition of an administrative offence (Art. 25 of the Administrative Offences Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan) and should be considered to develop the system of transport criminal offences. The existence of administrative torts in the sphere of family and domestic relations, public order and morality, rights and freedoms of minors, traffic safety, labour protection and other administrative offences have resulted in neglecting their criminal nature, inaccurate assessment of offences' different nature and degree of their public danger, and errors in law enforcement practice. It is, therefore, proposed that a Code of 'Minor' Offences or Minor Misdemeanours should be drafted and, along with the Penal Code, be recognized as a source of criminal law.