Typicality is key when defining what action constitutes a crime.
Typicality is the characteristic of that which is typical (representative or particular of some type ). The concept is usually used in the field of law to name what constitutes a crime since it adapts to a figure that describes the law .
In other words: typicality implies the adaptation of a conduct to the assumptions detailed in the legislation on a crime . If the action carried out by a person voluntarily fits with the figure described by the laws as a crime, we speak of the typical nature of the act committed.
Typicality and the law
In this way, when a behavior fits the description of the law, it can be said that the act constitutes a crime. On the other hand, when the adaptation does not occur in its entirety, the action does not constitute a crime. This adaptation is linked to the typicality of the facts.
The law is responsible for describing crimes in detail. This is how typical behaviors are established: those behaviors that fit what is described as a crime. This typicality is essential so that a judge can evaluate the specific facts according to the types established by law.
An example
Suppose that, in legislation, it is established that murder is a crime and that the typical behavior of murder involves the act of killing another person. If a man shoots another man in the head and kills him, such conduct fits the criminal offense described by the law. The typicality, therefore, indicates that the person in question committed a crime.
The administration of justice is linked to the typicality of the conduct.
In order to know more about the aforementioned typicality, we have to emphasize that it has two really important aspects:
-The subjective type, which refers to the psychological attitude that the alleged perpetrator of the crime has. With this we are referring to issues such as intentionality, error, guilt or fraud.
-The objective type, which is the set of characteristics that are necessary to be met in the world outside the aforementioned subject. This would be from the legal right to the objective imputation through the causal relationship.
Difference between typicality, typification and type
On many occasions, we find that typicality is often confused and used as a synonym for criminal type or criminal classification, but it is important to know that the three are different things.
Specifically, in order to understand what makes them different, there is nothing better than resorting to the law that does so:
-The criminal type is the description made of an omissive or active act as a crime that is established as such in what is the legal budget of a criminal law.
-Typicality is, on the other hand, the way in which the voluntary human act carried out by the subject is adapted to what is the figure described by the law as a crime.
-The criminal classification thus we can determine that it is defined as the criminalization of a cultural norm made by the relevant legislator and that is established and included in a criminal law.