NCJ Number
89362
Journal
Revue internationale de criminologie et de police technique Volume: 35 Issue: 2 Dated: (April-June 1982) Pages: 165-184
Date Published
1982
Length
20 pages
Annotation
The French Parliament is in the process of nullifying certain provisions of the law on security and freedom of February 2, 1981, and of modifying several of its other provisions.
Abstract
The Constitutional Council has invoked Article 8 of the 1789 Declaration of Human Rights and Citizen Rights, which stipulates that the law shall establish only those penalties that are strictly and obviously necessary. Accordingly, the parliament has given criminal law a new dimension by denying legislators the right to enact more stringent temporary provisions when a more lenient criminal statute exists. The parliament also will be meeting to discuss whether judges should also be denied the right to enact these harsher temporary penalties. The practical and philosophical bases of the provisions of the 1981 law concerning the establishment of penalties are discussed, and justifications for the proposed modifications are examined. Footnotes are supplied.