Introduction to Criminal Law: Concepts and Sanctions
Topic 1: Penalizing Authority and Ius Poenale
Penalizing Authority (Subjective Concept of Criminal Law), Ius Poenale (Objective Concept of Criminal Law)
Right to Punish: The right of the State to punish. Only the State has the power to impose sanctions through the judiciary.
Ius Poenale: A set of rules governing certain conduct as criminal offenses or subject to legal consequences that can be a penalty or security measure.
Theme 1: Content and Punishment of Criminal Law
Focuses on the concept of crime and the study of institutions used to sanction (punishment and security measures). This is done through the creation of standards. Criminal law can be seen from a sociological standpoint, being a part of formal social control through which the state punishes with negative sanctions particularly serious deviant behaviors called (harmful conduct) most serious for coexistence. This is intended to ensure social discipline and the proper socialization of group members.
Theme 1: The Crime
As the concept of crime, we find many definitions:
- a) Positivists: 19th Century, Garofalo, Ferri, and Lombroso, Italian authors who studied crime, giving a new approach and giving more importance to the role of the offender. – Garofalo: Injury to the basic altruistic sentiments of piety and probity in the middle as they are possessed by the community and the average measure as it is essential to adapt the individual to society.
- b) Sociology: For all deviant behavior in relation to the parameters of living that exist in every society. The only valid concept of crime is to distinguish between what is criminal and what is not, which is written in the Code. The concept of crime under the penal code is formal. It is also legal because it is contained in an article (art. 10). Article 25 of the Spanish Constitution, on the other hand, expressed in the first paragraph the principle of legality (studying the content of art. 9 and 25 of the EC). Therefore, the only concept of criminal law and crime is what the Code gives us, as any other definition is going to remove the rule of law and therefore be invalid. The only power that has the capacity to say what is a crime and what is not is the legislature.
Theme 1: Grief and Security Measures
The measure of punishment and security are two consequences arising from the commission of the crime, and therefore the legal property damage requires a repair for that damage. The system for repairing the damage has been:
- Penalty: The penalty is quantitative and qualitative, and always leads to the restriction of legal rights. The penalty is imposed on people who are guilty of committing a crime, an act committed by a person capable of knowing the contents of the standard and subsequent ability to decide its behavior with a degree of guilt, even reckless (in degree of guilt).
- Security Measure: The security measure is required to prevent or eliminate, to the extent that the subject is dangerous. Security measures at first were born without the imposition of the duration of recruitment: postdelictuales and predelictuales. There is a possibility of imposing a penalty on people who show danger even before committing a crime, showing a particularly dangerous behavior by repeated criminal acts (to apply punishment as well as security). The security measures today live in virtually all legislation.
Ancillary Effects
Along with these two penalties, currently in Spanish law are the ancillary effects, a type of sanction but not penalties or security measures, which are being imposed only on legal persons. Typically include, for example, intervention in the accounts and business activity.
Civil Liability
Along with these consequences (criminal, say the three) can be derived from the crime what we call civil liability, an institution of a civil, not criminal nature – even if it is contained in the Penal Code as a result arising from the commission of a crime. This is a very special feature of our system. The Spanish system allows, while the criminal case begins in what we call a separate piece, the criminal courts can impose the sentence (while pointing to the penalty) civil and criminal liability at a time. At this point, it is important to distinguish between punishment and civil liability:
- The penalty is required with the person. It’s personal, subjective, and non-transferable.
- The civil liability, as well as any other civil debt, is transmitted. If the civil claim is not made during the criminal proceedings, you have to wait until it finishes to start the civil action.
Distinction Between Injunction and Ancillary Result:
- The interim measure is imposed as a precaution to ensure a situation (for example, an abuser does not continue battering).
- The incidental consequence is a punishment. May be imposed during the process as precautionary measures and end the trial and punishment.
In everything that is not explicitly stated in the Penal Code on this issue, supplementary rules such as the Civil Code are applied because it is a civilian institution (art. 109 et seq.). In the case of liability, it covers both damage and loss of profits (for example, money is no longer perceived). While criminal liability is extinguished with the person, debt liability is transmitted. In the case of the state, we can do vicarious liability for the activities of public officials in charge during that year. It differs, however, the case of compensation to victims of terrorism. There is a compensation fund which aims to cover damage caused by terrorist acts, which does not mean that the terrorist can be held responsible (for the terrorist, you can directly responsible civil). Political parties assume that must be addressed to the fund with taxes of the Spanish, but these are paid alternatively.