The Unreal Attempt - On the Difficulties of Criminal Law Dogma- tics to Master the Superstitious Attempt

In German Criminal Law, the actions of the perpetrator of the crime are punished even if they are not suitable to produce the result from the very beginning. This topic is referred to as impossible attempt. As a rule German law punishes impossible attempt. Another institution under the heading of impossible attempt is the attempt based on a Gross Misunderstanding, in which case the court may either waive the punishment or reduce the punishment discretionarily. Cases other than impossible attempt are referred to as unreal attempt or attempt based on superstition. In this article, the relationship between attempt based on gross misunderstanding and unreal attempt is analyzed and the status of the criminal law doctrine regarding unreal attempt is examined. This abstract is written by the translator.