Original scientific paper
Criminal policy and criminal law doctrine: on possibilities and limits of synthesis
Matjaž Ambrož
; Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
The relationship between the criminal policy and criminal law doctrine (“criminal dogmatics”) is considered to be controversial. There are opinions that advocate a strict division of both disciplines, as well as beliefs that criminal law doctrine should be tailored to the goals of criminal policy (functionalism). The main hypothesis of this paper is that the strict division of the disciplines is essentially impossible; the author demonstrates through a case-by-case analysis how supposedly value-free doctrinal discourse often conceals assumptions of criminal policy. Since hiding or “dogmatising” policy assumptions causes several problems (it often appears unconvincing, it may lead to socially unacceptable solutions and it does not aid legal security), the author advocates open dialogue on issues of criminal policy already at the stage of attributing criminal responsibility, and not only when it comes to sentencing. In conclusion, he addresses the limits and traps of criminal policy reasoning within criminal-law decision making.
Keywords
criminal policy; criminal law doctrine; ethics; aim of punishment; legal security; abandonment of the attempt
Hrčak ID:
218728
URI
Publication date:
12.10.2018.
Visits: 1.399 *