The content of this paper tackles the understanding of the criminal offense of office and authority abuse that is reflected in the conscious and willing actions of the perpetrator. This criminal act, through time, suffered changes in terms of punishment. It has been observed that earlier there were fewer crimes of this kind for the sake of stricter penalties. This practice has not been kept up to this day, so we notice that more and more are those who are 'free' even though they have been convicted. No matter which country we are studying, Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is undisputed that the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia and the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina prescribe this criminal offense with certain similarities and differences regarding the punishment of perpetrators. We meet a perpetrator who can acquire unlawful material gain for himself and on behalf of another, and may have assistants or instigators as co-perpetrators in the commission of this criminal offense. The judicial system needs improving, with a special emphasis on quality, and not as it used to be in previous practice where quantity was of primordial importance. As a result, the number of these crimes would be significantly reduced.