Public Danger: Problems of Definition

A crime becomes a crime when the public danger is defined properly. The concepts of «public» and «danger» form the basis of the concept of public danger, which is an indicator for the criminalization  and decriminalization of an act. The paper provides a lexical and doctrinal analysis of the concept of public danger, its social significance and the problems of developing criteria for its definition in relation to the benefits and human rights. The historical analysis of public danger, its relevance and the need to enshrine it in the current Criminal Code of the Russian Federation require a more careful consideration of this concept. It is not only public danger that must be established in the criminal law, but the criteria for distinguishing between its degree and nature must also be clearly formulated. Timely and proper definition of public danger allows you to adequately treat criminalization and decriminalization without prejudice to society. The paper proposes the author’s definition of public danger.