Concept, Signs and Types of Criminal Offence in Legislation and Practice of the US and Ukraine

Kostiantyn Orobets1

Abstract
The articleaimed to research the features of the criminal law systems in the modern world; to compare the criminal law concept of an offence under the criminal law of the USA and Ukraine. The methodological basis of this research is formed by both general (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, etc.) and specific (comparative, formal law, historical, systemic, etc.) methods of legal research. The main method of comparative research of legal phenomena is the comparative analysis. Comprehensive research of this matter can be considered as a purposeful and organized process of advanced training and formation of special competencies of scientists. The structure of the scientific model presented in this
article is determined by the needs for a comprehensive comparison of the fundamental categories of criminal law of Ukraine and the US. The attempt to create a theoretical model in this article is aimed at a comprehensive comparative legal analysis of the provisions of the criminal law of the US and Ukraine, which define the concept and signs of a criminal offence; scientifically substantiated proposals for updating criminal legislation and the practice of its application were developed and researched. The study of a criminal offence as a specific action and as a legal structure has not only theoretical, but also practical nature, since both the actual signs of the committed action are established, and such signs are compared with the legal signs of the corpus delicti of a criminal offence in the process of qualification of criminal offences.

Keywords: crime, misdemeanour, updating of criminal legislation, the severity of the action, social danger, criminal unlawfulness, punishability.