with the scientific collaboration of
ISSN 2611-8858

Topics

Harm Principle

Concurrence of Norms and Complex Offenses in Italian Criminal Law: Specific Reference to Article 84

The complex crimes don’t have lost effect in Italian and Spanish criminal law. Their study remains still necessary and appropriate today. The appearance of diversified hypotheses of complexity attached to evaluative aspects forces us to analyze the structural and concurrent relations of this class of offenses, in such a way that the dogmatic rudiments with which until now have been faced with their application and interpretation are updated. In this sense, it is useful to examine Italian doctrine and case law that has advanced a lot in the line of what has been called here a double trial of normative concurrence in which the institutes of complexity and pluri-offensiveness are finally organized in a logical-systematic order.

The Harm Principle in the New Chilean Constitution

The article aims to evaluate an eventual express regulation of the harm principle in the future Chilean Constitution. The article starts by examining the background, meaning and regulation of this principle. Then, it addresses its relationship with other principles that limit the ius puniendi, as well as the importance of its regulation as an autonomous principle. Likewise, the text refers to the harm principle as the basis of an adequate legislative technique in criminal matters. The article concludes that an explicit regulation of this principle in the new Chilean Constitution, through an immediate and clear formulation, would be a great step forward, among other things due to its character of limiting the action of both the legislator and the judge in the punitive field.

The Crime of Unlicensed Practice after the Reform. The Case of Dentistry

The paper deals with the reformed article 348 of the Italian Criminal Code and its consequences on healthcare, usually affected by unlicensed practice more than other sectors. In particular, after assessing the main changes introduced by the so called ‘Lorenzin reform’, the paper focuses on cases of unauthorized practice in dentistry. Such offence, when committed by unlicensed dentists delivering their services through companies, may be even more harmful to clients and competitors, potentially calling for the application of corporate liability legislation (legislative decree 231/2001).

Mafia method across borders

In 2006, a new legislative type of crime was introduced in the Italian criminal justice system: the "transnational" crime, which comprises every feature and effect a criminal behaviour could have in more than one State and connects it with relevant consequences as to the punishment. Nevertheless, said label could refer to legal (and even social) spaces in which the crime presents itself differently than the underlying behavior: indeed, any social agglomeration might mark out, in a different way, an element of a crime. An instance thereof could be found in a specific Italian law, enacted against Mafia (art. 7, d.l. 152/1991), introducing an aggravating factor that could permanently alter the substance of the crime. From this point of view, many systematic questions arise, seriously challenging the abilities of experts in legal interpretation.

The Unbearable Softness. Decriminalization of Soft-Drug Offenses Between Law in the Book and Law in Action

The article moves from Italian drug-policy’s failures and goes on to analyze how the Italian legal system endeavors to minimize soft-drug offenses relevance. A two-faced picture thus emerges: on the one side, the legislator proves incapable of reforming the current, wasteful drug-policy; on the other, some judges tend to ‘practically decriminalize’ low-danger offenses. The author maintains that this case-law approach, although somehow alleviating, does neither match the goal of legal certainty, nor prove effective in fighting mass drug-dealing.