The bipolarity of the Penal Code

Abstract

The 1995 Penal Code has suffered several reforms since its adoption in different areas. In general terms, although some reforms have been made which have eliminated criminal offences that have gradually lost their raison, through which the number of offences has increased, and substantial changes have been made in the scope of penalties that allow for longer detention of the offender. This work studies the reforms carried out by the legislator to tackle, on the one hand, crimes committed because of poverty, marginality and social exclusion which have followed a clearly punitive path, and, on the other hand, those undertaken to deal with crimes committed for a political purpose of decriminalizing character. We will be raising the risks that the existence of an elitist criminal law entails for the social and democratic state of law.