Benevolence and Culpability: A Marginal Gloss to the Decision of the Constitutional Court Up-258/15 of 30 November 2017

Starting from the analysis of the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia Up-258/15, the author elaborates the problem of intention and errors in case of normative elements of statutory descriptions of criminal offences, especially those of a value nature. At the heart of his discussion is the question of how to assess cases in which the perpetrator refers to the benevolence of his conduct. Can the well-intentioned perpetrator be guilty? Can he act intentionally, although he understands the content of a certain element of statutory definition differently than the majority population? What role do social expectations play? In seeking answers to these questions, the author balances between the individualization and objectification of culpability and takes a stand to solutions developed in this field by the German theory of criminal law. 

Key words: culpability, intention, knowledge of unlawfulness, mistake of law, mistake of fact, normative elements in the statutory definition of criminal of¬fence, neglect and maltreatment of a child