Tendencies to privatise criminal law and recognition of social harm as the basis of criminalisation
In the changing social reality, the classic scheme of criminal liability with its characteristic relationship between the state and the parties involved no longer meets the needs of effective but fair response to the criminal acts. Consequently, the object of the scientific and legislative debate becomes the phenomenon of privatisation also called in the literature the civilization phenomenon of criminal law. With the acceptance of the assumption that the basis for the criminalisation of any conduct must be its social harmfulness, the paper concerns the problem of the impact which re-evaluation of the role of the state and the concept of discourse and restorative justice have on the above mentioned criterion. The author tries to demonstrate that these phenomena and introduction to the criminal law elements of private law must be reflected also with respect to the understanding and evaluation of social harmfulness.