Abstract
The book deals with the criminal liability in decision-making processes in public administration. Conduct in public administration is a very complex and organized activity.
However, the existing doctrine does not enable its reliable and satisfactory criminal assessment. The primary objective of this book is therefore to identify the roles and extent of criminal liability of individual actors in the decision-making process in public administration and on this basis to analyze which crimes can be typically committed while exercising public administration.
The formal structure of the text follows as much as possible the standard criminal law doctrine on elements of a crime, so that readers could orientate more easily. Thus, each chapter focuses on different aspect of the topic - actions in public administration, its criminal relevance, the consequence in public administration, the party to a crime, the subjective aspect, circumstances precluding wrongfulness and finally criminal offences related to public administration itself.
From the material point of view, the book gradually divides roles of actors in the decision-making process in public administration based on interpretation made in individual chapters of the book. It was conducted firstly according to the criminal relevance of types of actions, then in terms of criminal cooperation and finally according to various stages of decision-making process.
In the beginning, the criminal law relevance of conduct in public administration is assessed from the point of view of a phase of the decision-making process in which it was conducted. The author recognizes two parts of the decision-making process, namely an "object" phase ("political" part) and a "realization" part ("economic" or "executive" part).
Subsequently, the book describes the possibilities of criminal qualification of conduct of people on various levels of decision-making process in public administration as offender, accomplice and/or participant in crime. Finally, three types of role (stages) are identified in the decision-making process in public administration: experts, professional management and political management.
Based on them, the book then presents three concepts for assessing mens rea in the decision-making process in public administration. Following these general findings, individual elements of chosen criminal offenses are analyzed.
The book represents a further step in development of the criminal law doctrine. It brings basic, yet comprehensive rules of assessment of criminal liability in decision-making processes in public administration.
The theoretical conclusions are illustrated with numerous examples from practice of the Czech Supreme Court, analyzed in detail. Finally, the work also draws attention to the fundamental problems of current legislation and its application (especially considering formulation of various offenses in the special part of the Czech Criminal Code) and offers suggestions for legislative changes.