Public Danger of the Act: Verification Impossible?

Public danger, being largely objective in nature, is the most important feature of a crime, underlying the decision to criminalize some act. However, there is no knowledge on how to verify whether it exists in each specific case of criminal legal prohibition, since the theory of verification of public danger in Russia has yet to be formed. The paper proposes approaches to solving this problem. In a number of cases, it should be recognized that public danger is a presumption (in particular, for those criminal acts that involve causing harm to life or health, using coercion, some forms of deception, etc.). The presumption is based here on such a method of verification as protocol statements, and, in fact, does not require other methods. In all other cases, when verifying a public danger, the author suggests relying on the method of expert assessments, proof by contradiction, and looking for new ways to verify the true nature of the public danger. In this case, verification of public danger is mandatory and should ideally be carried out at the stage of drafting the bill.