The crime of service abuse in the vision of the new penal code

• Author: Gavril Paraschiv
• Position: Faculty of Law and Public Administration, the Law Department, Spiru Haret University, Craiova, Romania
• Pages: 39-43

AGORA International Journal of Juridical Sciences, www.juridicalj ournal.univagora.ro

ISSN 1843-570X, E-ISSN 2067-7677

No.1 (2012), pp. 113-117

113

THE CRIME OF SERVICE ABUSE IN THE VISION OF

THE NEW PENAL CODE

G. Paraschiv

Gavril Paraschiv

Faculty of Law and Public Administration, the Law Department

Spiru Haret University, Craiova, Romania

*Correspondence: Gavril Paraschiv, 30 General Magheru St., Ramnicu Valc ea, Romania

E-mail: gavril.paraschiv@yahoo.ro

Abstract

In the P enal Code adopted by the Law no. 286/2009, one single crime of service

abuse is regulated, in contradiction with the previous code which comprised three similar

incriminations. This crime broadly comprises the same acts, their sphere being only

broadened by stipulating other means of committing abusive activities.

Key words: abuse, official, service, damage, harm.

Introduction

In the penal Code from 1968 three crimes of abuse in service are condemned: service

abuse against the individuals’ interests (art. 246), service abuse by limiting certain rights

(art. 247) and service abuse against public interests (art. 248), unlike the new code, adopted

by the Law no. 286/2009,in which only a crime of service abuse is mentioned

1

, but which

embodies two normative forms, mainly comprising the same acts, to which others are added

by adding up new elements referring to the motif which st ands at the basis of committing

abusive acts.

Pre-existent conditions for committing crimes (factors of the c rime)

a) The special Ju ridical object for the crime of service abuse is formed by social

relations regarding the well functioning of public units, respectively private units (for the

attenuated form o f a crime stipulated in the art. 308, Penal Code

2

), by the proper fulfillment

of service attribution s by the public officials (or any other individuals employed, in the case

of an attenuated form), aiming to co mbat abusive behaviours, incorrect attitudes that lead to

1

This crime is stipulated in the art. 297 from the new Penal Code, which has the following content “(1) The crime

committed by the public official which, while exercising his work attributions, fails to fulfill an act or performs it

incorrectly and by this causes a damage or harm to the legitimate rights and interests of a natural or juridical person

is punished with imprisonment from 2 to 7 years and the interdiction to further exercise the right to occupy a public

function. (2) With the same punishment one also sa nctions the act of the public official which, in exercising his

work attributes, limits the exercise of a person’s right or creates a situation of inferiority based on principles of race,

nationality, ethnical origin, language, religion, sex, sexual orientation, political affiliation, fortune, age, disability,

non-contagious chronic disease or HIV infection”.

2

Art. 308 from the new Penal Code has the following content: “(1) The dispositions of art. 289-292 and art. 297-301

related to pub lic officials is also applied appropriately to acts committed by or relating to persons which exercise,

permanently or temporarily, with or without remuneration, a task of any nature in service of a natural person

stipulated in the art. 175 par. (2) or in the service of any legal person. (2) In th is case, the special limits of t he

sanction are reduced with a third of it.”