ZASTARELOST KRIVIČNOG DELA

Jovašević Dragan (Правни факултет Универзитета у Нишу),

The general rule is that during the course of time any criminal act, the guilt of its perpetrator and the pronounced criminal sanction expire. This means that after the expiration of a period defined by the law the state renounces its right to punish the perpetrator of a criminal act. Expiration is the general condition for suspension of all criminal sanctions provided for by the national criminal legislation. There are exceptions to this rule that are defined by universal and regional international acts. These are the cases when some criminal acts (international criminal acts in a narrow sense) do not expire. It means that the principle of universal applicability has been adopted for perpetrators of serious breaches of criminal law. This paper deals with the notion, characteristics, contents and scope of application of the institute of expiration in the legislation of the Republic of Serbia to be in accordance with the European Convention.

Ključne reči: Criminal act, perpetrator, criminal sanction, expiration, deadline, law, European standards