verbrechen

Verbrechen is a German noun meaning crime, used especially in legal contexts to denote the most serious category of criminal offenses under German criminal law. In the German Strafgesetzbuch (StGB), offenses are conceptually divided into Verbrechen (crimes) and Vergehen (misdemeanors). Verbrechen are offenses punishable by more than one year of imprisonment; Vergehen are punishable by up to one year in prison or by a monetary penalty. The distinction influences penalties, prosecution procedures, and sometimes the statute of limitations, but it does not by itself determine moral culpability.

Typical Verbrechen include homicide, rape, kidnapping, serious bodily harm, and aggravated forms of theft or robbery; many forms of fraud, drug trafficking at high severity, and organized crime offenses are treated as Verbrechen. The classification reflects the perceived seriousness and the required mental state (intent or recklessness) and the unlawfulness of the conduct, known in German as Tatbestand and Schuld, with the necessary causal connection to the harm.

The term Verbrechen also appears in international or historical contexts, such as crimes against humanity, and in discussions of international criminal law. In everyday language, Verbrechen is often used as a general synonym for any criminal act, but in German law it specifies a legal category with corresponding penalties.