CRIMINAL OFFENSE OF INCITING NATIONAL, RACIAL, AND RELIGIOUS HATRED AND INTOLERANCE

In our region, multi-ethnicity, multi-confessionalism, and multilingualism are common phenomena, and therefore the challenges they face are not exceptions. With the emancipation and transition of countries in the region, accession to the European Union, states have brought new legislative frameworks in which they have recognized long- standing personal characteristics of their citizens, provided protection for these characteristics, and criminalized attacks based on these personal characteristics, as well as incitement of hatred and intolerance based on the same. This paper presents the criminal offense of inciting national, racial, and religious hatred and intolerance, within the framework of constitutional and particularly criminal law. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the legal framework and the provision of the offense in the legislation of the Republic of Serbia, the actions and methods of committing this criminal offense. Additionally, attention is given to the analysis of motives and reasons, as well as the consequences of committing this offense, questions of causality and possibilities of concurrence with other criminal offenses. Some important characteristics of this criminal offense are also discussed, such as: place, object, time, perpetrator, and form of guilt for the execution of the crime.