Instrumental and symbolic functions of criminal law: outlines of a theory of the legal good

Authors

Keywords:

Legal good, Symbolic functions, Positive general prevention, Risk society, Minimal criminal law

Abstract

The author examines the distinction between intra-systematic and extra-systematic functions of the legal good, pointing to the circularity that compromises its instrumental legitimation. He analyzes the dynamization of legal goods in the preventive State and the administrativization of criminal law amid risk society. He discusses the crisis of negative special prevention and neo-retributivism in the United States, and the symbolic legitimation of positive general prevention in Europe. He concludes on the need for an alternative use of criminal law, guided by garantist principles and the defense of the rights of the weakest, given the failure of the instrumental conception of punishment.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Alessandro Baratta, Universidade de Saarland, Alemanha

Universidade de Saarland, Alemanha.

References

-

Published

1994-01-01

How to Cite

BARATTA, Alessandro. Instrumental and symbolic functions of criminal law: outlines of a theory of the legal good. Brazilian Journal of Criminal Science, São Paulo, v. 5, n. 5, p. 5–24, 1994. Disponível em: https://publicacoes.ibccrim.org.br/index.php/RBCCRIM/article/view/3279. Acesso em: 20 oct. 2026.

Issue

Section

International Doctrine
Views 24 Downloads 19