NCJ Number
61726
Date Published
1978
Length
32 pages
Annotation
CHANGES IN SOCIETAL AND CULTURAL VALUES REQUIRE NEW CRIMINOLOGICAL POLICIES, INCLUDING LAW REFORM AND CRIMINALIZATION AND DECRIMINALIZATION OF VARIOUS TYPES OF BEHAVIOR.
Abstract
ANTIQUATED AND OBSOLETE PENAL CODES, IN LATIN AMERICA AND IN PANAMA IN PARTICULAR, MUST BE REFORMED TO REFLECT CURRENT TRENDS IN CRIMINOLOGY AND CHANGED SOCIETAL AND CULTURAL VALUES. VARIOUS FORMS OF DE-FACTO DECRIMINALIZATION (WHICH USUALLY COME FIRST) AND DE-JURE DECRIMINALIZATION (WHICH FOLLOW) INCLUDE ABROGATION, LEGALIZATION, DEPENALIZATION, DEJUDICIALIZATION. CURRENTLY, DEPENALIZATION APPEARS TO BE THE MOST EXPEDIENT FORM OF DECRIMINALIZATION. TYPES OF OFFENSES THAT SHOULD BE DECRIMINALIZED INCLUDE STATUS OFFENSES, MINOR INFRACTIONS AGAINST PROPERTY, TRAFFIC OFFENSES, OR SUCH SEXUAL OFFENSES AS ADULTERY, COHABITATION, HOMOSEXUALITY, PORNOGRAPHY, OR LEWD BEHAVIOR (PROVIDED MINORS ARE NOT INVOLVED). TYPES OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR, SUCH AS ALCOHOLISM, DRUG ABUSE, OR VAGRANCY SHOULD ALSO BE DECRIMINALIZED, AS WELL AS BIGAMY, THERAPEUTIC ABORTION, AND CUTTING OFF LIFE-SUPPORT EQUIPMENT FROM TERMINALLY ILL PATIENTS ALREADY CLINICALLY DEAD. JUVENILES CONSTITUTE ANOTHER CATEGORY OF OFFENDERS TO WHOM DECRIMINALIZATION SHOULD APPLY. DECRIMINALIZATION CANNOT BE APPLIED IN A VACUUM, HOWEVER, OR BE REGARDED AS A UNIVERSAL PANACEA IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME, BUT IT MUST BE PART OF A COMPREHENSIVE CRIMINOLOGICAL POLICY, AND ITS INDISPENSABLE COUNTERPART SHOULD BE CRIMINALIZATION, APPLIED TO ACTS FORMERLY REGARDED AS NONCRIMINAL, BUT CURRENTLY PERCEIVED AS CRIMINAL, BECAUSE OF SHIFTS IN CIRCUMSTANCES AND THOUGHT PATTERNS (WHITE-COLLAR CRIMES, TERRORISM, GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION). CHANGES AND SUBSTITUTIONS OF PENALTIES MUST ALSO BE PART OF THE NEEDED CRIMINOLOGICAL POLICY REFORM, ESPECIALLY THE ELIMINATION OF INCARCERATION EXCEPT FOR THE MOST DANGEROUS CRIMINALS WHO ARE GUILTY OF CRIMES THAT POSE A SERIOUS THREAT TO THE COMMON GOOD. --IN SPANISH. (LGR)