Role and purpose of the penalty: execution of custodial penalties in the case of white-collar criminals

Abstract

Recent judicial resolutions about institutions such as parole, prison classification or exit permit, relative to “white-collar offenders”, have highlighted some problems related to the functions and goals of the prison penalty, especially in the moment of its execution. The present work tries to analyse some of the particularities presented by this type of criminals’ fulfillment of imprisonment terms in order to try to supply criteria of interpretation for the access into some of the criminal and penitentiary institutions which are part of the convicted person’s rights, but whose application must be reconciled with the criteria of the need for a penalty with regard to its foundation and to the ends that it must achieve.