Is it comedy or offense? Legal-criminal considerations on the limits of freedom of artistic expression

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to critically analyze the limits of comedy and the (un)necessity of using criminal law as an inhibitory mechanism of possibly identified excesses. It starts from the assumption that there are limitations to the work of a comedian, without the need to establish prior censorship. The problem, therefore, explores two points: 1) what would be the level of this limitation? and 2) would it be necessary to use criminal law to prevent this limitation from being exceeded? With the use of the hypothetical-deductive method, in an essentially qualitative approach, making use especially of the literature review, the conclusion is in the sense that, officially, civil and administrative rights are more than sufficient mechanisms of control and inhibition to deal with the possible excesses eventually identified in the comedian’s performance.