Relationship between the concept of “offender” and related legal science concepts: “person guilty of committing a criminal offense”, “subject of a criminal offense”, “accused”

In the article, the authors investigate the relationship between the concept of “offender” and related concepts in legal sciences – “person guilty of committing a criminal offense”, “subject of a criminal offense”, “accused”. It is noted that criminology usually operates with the concept of “offender”. This choice is explained by the fact that the concept of “person” is a complex integrating notion that includes biological, psychological, and social aspects. It is established that in criminology, the concept of “offender” means the totality of socio-demographic, psychological, moral, and other characteristics inherent in persons guilty of criminally unlawful activity. In legislation and legal literature, alongside the concept of “offender”, the concepts “person guilty of committing a criminal offense” and “subject of a criminal offense” are also used. The concepts are similar but not identical, since a person is considered in different aspects – criminal-law aspect (“person guilty of committing a criminal offense”) and criminological aspect (“offender”). The concept of “person guilty of committing a criminal offense” does not include any other data about this individual, their features, traits, or other separate indicators. Comparing the concepts of “offender” and “subject of a criminal offense”, the authors note that they are not identical and have different meanings. First, “offender” is purely a criminological concept, while “subject of a criminal offense” is a criminal-law concept. Second, the concept of “offender” is broader in meaning, because, in addition to the features of a subject of a criminal offense, it includes other traits characterizing the person who committed the criminal offense. The authors conclude that criminology operates with the concept of “offender”. The concept of “offender” should be distinguished from other related concepts in legal sciences: “person guilty of committing a criminal offense”, “subject of a criminal offense”, “accused”. These concepts are criminal-law and criminal-procedural in nature rather than criminological and apply to a specific individual who is the bearer of rights and duties established by law throughout the criminal proceedings.