The dystopia of a world without prison sentences

Résumé 0

Contemporary criminal law reveals a decline in the legal category of prison sentences. Marginalized within the larger category of restrictive and custodial measures, and weakened in its autonomous definition, prison sentences are being given out considerably less frequently. They might even disappear. This hypothesis must be understood as a dystopia supported by seemingly opposed penal philosophies. On the one hand, there are the ideas defended by those supporting a punitive turn based on security and public protection and who, by deviating from the notion of penalty through recourse to other restrictive measures, wish to be freed from the legal guarantees that accompany it. But, on the other hand, there are also the ideas of those in favor of a penalty designed exclusively as an individualized tool for “treatment” and “reintegration.” In both cases, a desire to obscure the retributive dimension of the sentence can be identified. However, it seems essential to renew the theoretical framework applicable to this painful dimension of the sentence because it is the condition for maintaining the legal guarantees that limit the application of sentences.