About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

30 Am. J. Comp. L. Supp. 515 (1982)
Offenses Causing Danger

handle is hein.journals/amcomps30 and id is 525 raw text is: AGENDA V.A.1

Offenses Causing Danger
Stephen Gorove *
1. TERMINOLOGY
The original French title of the subject matter of this report
reads Les d~lits de mise en danger, which has been translated
into English as offenses causing danger or endangerment as a
criminal offense.' The first translation by the general rapporteur
may be interpreted to be more extensive in scope inasmuch as of-
fenses causing danger would appear to include not only endanger-
ment as a relatively novel crime sui generis but possibly also many
completed and attempted crimes which have created or create some
danger.
If one looks at our subject matter broadly and raises the ques-
tion of what type of criminal activity causes danger to persons, prop-
erty, legal rights or interests, it would appear that the field to be
covered is extremely large.
This report will indicate some of the very wide categories of
crimes to which offenses causing danger may extend if liberally
interpreted and will elaborate on the fairly new statutory offense of
endangerment or, more precisely, reckless endangerment.
2. COMPLETED CRIMES
Most, if not all, criminal activity at some point prior to the com-
mission of the particular act constitutes a threat or danger that
the act will be committed. Apart from this, and more importantly,
there are many types of completed offenses where the criminal act
also constitutes or causes actual danger to people, property, legal
rights and interests prior to the completion of the offense. A mur-
derous assailant's act of pointing a loaded gun at the intended vic-
tim causes danger to that person prior to the actual killing. A
person who places poison in another's drink causes danger to the
other person's life which is already present prior to the drinking of
the poisoned liquid and the ensuing death of the person. In such
* Professor of Law, University of Mississippi Law Center.
1. Ies d~lits de mise en danger was the subject matter of a comparative study
by national reporters and the general reporter to the X Congress of the International
Association of Penal Law. For details, see 40 REVUE INTERNATIONALE DE DROrr PENAL
(1969).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most