Turto prievartavimo ir plėšimo sudėčių panašumai bei skirtumai ; Extortion and robbery: similarities and differences of crime elements
Property relations are, have always been and always will be the very basis of social and economic organization in a state. Its safeguard is arguably a № 1 priority of every state, because it has the capacity to ensure social stability and order. No wonder that nowadays property is considered a birthright of every human being. That probably explains why property relations are protected by all types of legislative acts, regardless of their legal power. Criminal law is the final frontier of its protection since it regulates the harshest penalties for such offences. Extortion and Robbery are common criminal offences against property and are considered to be the most dangerous crimes of the kind. However, that is not the only thing they have in common. These crimes are often so much alike that it turns difficult to determine which crime of the two is reflected in the criminal actions of the perpetrator. Therefore this paper concentrates its attention on the subject of similarities and differences of Extortion and Robbery. These crimes are mainly analyzed and compared in detail through the elements of their objective and subjective features. That provides a proper incentive for attempting to demarcate these offences in the whole, digging into the very essence of defining these crimes by the Criminal code of Lithuania. This paper is not only valuable at the comparative level, it also touches the most important common subjects of qualifying these crimes separately as well as in conjunction with other criminal offences, all according to the criminal law of Lithuania. Defining the basic rules of qualifying these crimes combines the findings of the comparative analysis with basic law practice, giving them a broader perspective and a deeper-reasoned meaning.