Background

Legal Literacy - As explained in the article entitled “Conceptual Application of Formal Offenses in Criminal Law”, that offenses in criminal law are divided into two, namely formal and material offenses. A brief definition and application of formal offenses have been explained in the article. Therefore, this article will review material offenses as a conceptual unity in the criminal law paradigm.

Material Offenses

The understanding of a term cannot be separated from the linguistic understanding first because it is the linguistic understanding that gives the original meaning. The original meaning of a terminology cannot be understood if it is separated from the original language that forms the term. Therefore, referring to the linguistic understanding has its own urgency. “Anyone who intentionally takes the life of another person shall be threatened with murder with a maximum imprisonment of fifteen years.” If dissected, it can be found that the focus of the material offense is the aspect of "consequence" that arises from an act, not the act itself. In the formulation of the article above, a person's actions will be said to be murder when there is a consequence of the act, namely "the taking of another person's life". The article does not detail what elements must be met for an act to be categorized as murder, such as using a sharp weapon and so on. The article clearly only focuses on the end point of an act, namely the occurrence of the taking of another person's life. As long as the consequence as the end point does not occur, then a person's actions, both in form and in any way, are not categorized as murder.

Aspects of Proving Formal and Material Offenses

The distinction between material and formal offenses affects the aspect of proof as a unity in criminal law. The proof of material and formal offenses is clearly different from each other and should not be confused because it will obscure legal certainty. Therefore, it is important to discuss this aspect which has not been discussed or mentioned in the previous article.