Criminal Law. General Part 2014-2015

• Year: 2nd

• Term: 1st - 2nd

• Degree awarded: Law

• Number of ECTS credits: 9

• Student hours: 225

   

Syllabus

Criminal law is the branch of the legal system which has most impact in practice on the general public's fundamental rights. The punitive power of the state has its origins in the need to protect society and basic rights from the most serious attacks on the main individual and collective legal rights.

Students on Criminal Law General Part, which lasts two terms, study the fundamentals of criminal law (legitimacy and limits of criminal law intervention) as well as, in an especially broad way, the fundamentals of criminal responsibility (crime theory), which is to say, what is needed for a act to be criminally relevant (illegality) and for the person that carried it out to be held personally responsible (guilt).The course also examines the elements of the proceedings which lead to the imposing of a specific penalty (sentencing) as well as the sentencing system and security measures in force in the Spanish penal code.

The course aims to enable students to approach all the problems which involve the attributing of criminal responsibility, in general, and for all types of crimes. However, at the same time it also has the function of introducing specific crimes, given that to a great extent the study of crimes in particular means nothing more than concrete application of the problems and interpretative guidelines fixed in the general part. Specific crimes are studied on the course Criminal Law Specific Part.

 

Topic 1. Concept and aims of criminal law

Topic 2. The sentencing system in the Spanish Penal Code

Topic 3. Other legal consequences of crime

Topic 4. Introduction to crime theory  

Topic 5. Human behaviour as a pre-requisite of crime

Topic 6. Objective risk

Topic 7. Wilful subjective risk

Topic 8. Recklessness

Topic 9. Imperfect execution

Topic 10. Omission

Topic 11. Perpetration and joint enterprise

Topic 12. The causes of justification: general theory

Topic 13. Legitimate defence. State of need

Topic 14. Fulfilling obligations and exercising rights. Consent

Topic 15. Guilt. Grounds for exclusion (I)

Topic 16. Guilt. Grounds for exclusion (II)

Topic 17. Punishment. Modifying circumstances

Topic 18. The concurrence of laws and crimes

Topic 19. Sentencing