DOTTRINE PENALI MINIMALISTE NELLA CULTURA GIURIDICA CONTEMPORANEA

This dissertation deals with doctrines defined as ‘minimalist’ in criminal law. The analysis, developed in the fields of Italian and Anglo-American jurisprudence, has the aim of reconstructing theories and justifications of criminalization and punishment which refer to the word “minimalism”, thus pointing out a peculiar position in the philosophy of criminal law, different both from abolitionism and ‘classic’ penal theories.
The main topics of the first part of the work are the “harm principle”, proportionality and parsimony, evaluated under a critical approach as regards their possible impact on decriminalization strategies. This, also considering the basis of criminal prohibitions as limited by the rule of law and constitutional rights.
The last section, whose theme is justification of punishment, focuses on characterizing as “minimalist doctrines” those integrated frameworks which suggest substantial reductions in the severity of criminal sanctions, as regards both their typology and their amount.