A necessary revision of the concept of criminal responsibility

Abstract

The adaptation of the concept and content of criminal responsibility to constitutional rights is one of the most serious omissions in criminal law discourse. The concept of criminal responsibility must return to the confrontation between the citizen and the State that existed during the Enlightment, not from a theoretical perspective and a pretended homogeneous rationality, but from the assumption of social inequality. The State is required to take an active stance in redistribution of the social goods. In criminal law this active stance is made real in the consideration of the person´s cultural, social and economic capabilities, in the process of imposing punishment. Criminal liability for the infringement of the law is not only the perpetrator´s but it is also society´s responsibility.