Ultima Ratio, Is the Principle at Risk?: Editors’ Introduction

<p>Ultima ratio as a normative principle, or a constellation of principles, would be a hermeneutic pre-understanding or pre-interpretative concept to the effect that the definition of a certain socially relevant conduct as a crime and the consequent infliction of a penal sanction on the perpet...

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Main Authors: Heike Jung, Kimmo Nuotio, Joxerramon Bengoetxea
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law 2013-01-01
Series:Oñati Socio-Legal Series
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ssrn.com/abstract=2213166
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Summary:<p>Ultima ratio as a normative principle, or a constellation of principles, would be a hermeneutic pre-understanding or pre-interpretative concept to the effect that the definition of a certain socially relevant conduct as a crime and the consequent infliction of a penal sanction on the perpetrator of such conduct is a serious matter to be handled with caution and not to be abused. Similarly, the emergence of new definitions of "European" crimes is a matter of concern. The risk referred to in the rhetoric question of the Workshop &ldquo;Is the ultima ratio principle at risk?&rdquo; lies in the non-observance of the principle of minimal intervention, the tendency to criminalise and to bring all or any socially &ndash; even politically &ndash; undesirable actions under the criminal law, and to use the criminal definition and sanction for purposes and situations other than the strictly necessary &ndash; principle of necessity &ndash; and universally shared &ndash; principle of deep social consensus.</p> <hr /><p>Ultima ratio como un principio normativo, o una constelaci&oacute;n de principios, ser&iacute;a un concepto heur&iacute;stico, una comprensi&oacute;n o pre-interpretaci&oacute;n hermen&eacute;utica, a fin de que la definici&oacute;n como &ldquo;delito&rdquo; de determinada conducta socialmente relevante, y la consecuente imposici&oacute;n de una sanci&oacute;n penal al causante de dicha conducta es un asunto serio que debe tratarse con cautela, y del que no se debiera abusar. El &ldquo;riesgo&rdquo; mencionado en la pregunta ret&oacute;rica del seminario &ldquo;&iquest;Est&aacute; el principio de ultima ratio en riesgo?&rdquo; se encuentra en la falta de observaci&oacute;n del principio de intervenci&oacute;n m&iacute;nima del derecho penal, en la tendencia a criminalizar y a reconducir las acciones socialmente, incluso pol&iacute;ticamente, indeseables bajo el derecho penal, y a abusar de la definici&oacute;n penal o tipificaci&oacute;n y de la sanci&oacute;n penal cubriendo finalidades y situaciones diferentes de las estrictamente necesarias, principio de necesidad, y de las universalmente compartidas, principio de consenso social profundo.</p> <p><strong>DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN</strong>: <a href="http://ssrn.com/abstract=2213166" target="_blank">http://ssrn.com/abstract=2213166</a></p>
ISSN:2079-5971