In the criminal law of some countries, an Antragsdelikt is a category of offense which cannot be prosecuted without a complaint by the victim. The same concept has been adopted in Japanese law under the name shinkokuzai, in South Korean law under the name chingojoe, and in the law of Taiwan using various terms.
Basic definition
The term comes from the German language words Antrag and Delikt. Antragsdelikte are similar to in definition to Ermächtigungsdelikte. For example, in Austria the latter category includes such offenses as trespassing or fraud committed in an emergency situation. The victim's consent is required for investigation of an Antragsdelikt to begin; no such consent is required in the case of an Ermächtigunsdelikt, though the prosecutor will inform the victim. In both cases, actual prosecution of the offense will only proceed with the consent of the victim. Another term is Privatklagedelikte. Antragsdelikt is somewhat analogous to the concept of a compoundable offense in Thai law, though different from that synonymous term in Malaysian law or Singaporean law.
Germany
The German Criminal Code lists the following as offenses which will only be prosecuted on request:
Unlawful Entry
Violation of instructions during supervision of conduct
In addition, the German Criminal Code states that the following offenses will be prosecuted on the request of the victim or in the case of "special public interest":
Statutory rape, if the victim is between 14 and 16 years old and the offender older than 21
Exhibitionism
Violation of privacy and personal secrets
Battery
Negligent battery
Child abduction
Stalking
Theft and embezzlement of low-value items
Corruption and bribery in business transactions
Property damage
Unlawful alteration of data
Computer sabotage
Japan
The concept of shinkokuzai first entered into Japanese law in the early Meiji period. The 1870 criminal codeShinritsu Kōryō, though it did not use the term directly, stated that the prosecution of a number of violent offenses between husband and wife depended on a complaint by the person in question. The phrase used to express this condition, wo mate, is probably the origin of the modern term shinkokuzai; mizukara tsugeru contains two of the same kanji used to write shinkokuzai. The draft criminal code of November 1877 used the term shinkokuzai directly in the definitions of various offenses. Under modern Japanese law, before July 13, 2017, sexual offenses such as rape or indecent assault were categorized as shinkokuzai, lest a prosecution against the victim's will result in secondary victimization or infringement of privacy.
The term qīn'gàozuì was used in laws in China's early Republic era, for example in the 1921 Criminal Procedure Ordinance or the 1928 Criminal Procedure Law. However, in modern terminology, the concept of a crime for which there will be no trial without complaint is usually expressed as gàosunǎilùn zhī zuì.
The , inherited from the Republic of China, uses the term . There are currently five offenses in this category, all of which are minor offenses against individuals: insult, defamation, infringement of freedom of marriage, maltreat and ordinary embezzlement. However, the Criminal Code does state that any such offense resulting in serious consequences is prosecutable without complaint. A 1999 amendment to Taiwan's Criminal Code removed indecent assault and rape from this category.
While no formal class of law equivalent to the Antragsdelikt exists in the law of Egypt, several religious crimes, including apostasy, cannot be prosecuted on the initiative of the public prosecutor; the case must instead be raised by another citizen.
