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**非親告罪【ひしんこくざい】 vs 親告罪【しんこくざい】**

To my understanding **親告罪** means: A type of crime which requires a formal
complaint from the victim in order to prosecute.

**非【ひ】** means: a mistake, negative, injustice, non, un, etc...

So is the first word like a double negative? In other words like not a crime?
A conversation of these two words happened during a talk recently and I didn't
quite fully understand. Any in-depth explanation would be great!
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2016-10-16T14:40:42.397
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2016-10-16T16:44:51.957
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meaning kanji prefixes
What is the difference between 非親告罪 and 親告罪?
非親告罪 doesn't mean decriminalization. It means non-親告罪、that is to say,
investigative organization can prosecute the accused without a requirement for
a formal complaint from the victim in order to prosecute.
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2016-10-16T15:04:20.513
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2016-10-16T15:35:05.543
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answer
When you see the Kanji 非 used before another word, you should always suspect
it is used as a prefix in order to make it opposite of the word without 非.

For example,

> [常識]{じょうしき}: common sense vs 非常識: lack of common sense, or absurdity.
>
> [紳士的]{しんしてき}: gentlemanly vs 非紳士的: ungentlemanly
>
> [会員]{かいいん}: a member vs 非会員: a non-member

Therefore, 非親告罪 means the opposite of 親告罪, in other words, 非親告罪 is the crime
that is not 親告罪 in the same way as 会員 means a member and 非会員 means someone who
is not a member.

There are other suffixes that have similar functions to 非 such as 不, 未 and so
on. They have different usages and have to be learned on a case by case basis.
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2016-10-16T15:49:49.813
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answer