Criminal Law Writings (Caiete de Drept Penal)

Discernment. Between criminal policy and case-law

2026-07-14T03:06:51+00:00

Distortion of the perception on danger and rewards or the difficulty of understanding the reality lead, among other things, to the commission of acts provided by criminal law and make it difficult to reach a decision that does not endanger the perpetrator himself. All are closely related to a limitation of critical thinking and influenced by the absence of education in school or its replacement by information obtained from social networks.

Replacement of life imprisonment

2026-07-14T03:06:52+00:00

The replacement of life imprisonment with a prison sentence on humanitarian grounds transcends purely domestic legal frameworks, finding its doctrinal and normative roots in European and international human rights law, especially following the abolition of the death penalty. Building upon the humanistic traditions emerging in the 18th and 19th centuries, contemporary legal systems must reconcile the severity of life sentences with the fundamental principles of rehabilitation and social reintegration. Under European case-law standards, life imprisonment is deemed compatible with human dignity only insofar as it remains de iure and de facto reducible. This requires a clear mechanism for review from the outset of applying the punishment, ensuring that the prospect of release is not a mere illusion, but a tangible possibility that preserves the proportionality and fairness of the sanction.
The urgency of such mechanisms is amplified in the case of elderly convicts, for whom the remainder of their life becomes indistinguishable from the indeterminate duration of their sentence. Within the Romanian legal framework, the replacement of life imprisonment, alongside conditional release, serves as a vital safeguard for maintaining the sentence within humanistic boundaries. However, this institution has undergone significant structural transformations following the enactment of the current Criminal Code.
Despite more than a decade of applicability, the current legal framework has yet to achieve exclusive prevalence, as it continues to compete with more favorable provisions of previous legislation. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the institution of replacing life imprisonment, exploring its multifaceted implications in relation to both substantive criminal law and the law of criminal execution, while addressing the persistent challenges in its judicial application.

The right to work of convicted persons and its limitations

2026-07-14T03:06:56+00:00

Work in jail represents an important factor that significantly contributes to the process of rehabilitation and reintegration of the convicted person. At national level, persons deprived of liberty are provided with the necessary framework to carry out working activities, with sufficient regulations in this regard, while in practice, the administration of each penitentiary in Romania seeks to ensure as many jobs for as many inmates as possible. Nevertheless, the right to work of inmates is not absolute, as there are numerous limitations and conditions provided by law that are intended to ensure the proper conduct of these activities. Considering that the right to work is part of the category of fundamental rights, in order to restrict its exercise, the conditions provided at the constitutional level must be observed, conditions intended to guarantee the protection of each person’s rights.
The purpose of this paper is to carry out an analysis of the right to work of convicted persons, both from a historical perspective and in the current social context, aiming to highlight the importance that work in penitentiaries has on the rehabilitation process, which constitutes the core of the execution of the sentence. Furthermore, we will also conduct a thorough examination of the limitations provided under Article 24 of the Instructions on the organization of work for persons deprived of liberty, adopted through Decision no. 500.165/2017 of the National Administration of Penitentiaries, in their previous form to the changes brought by Order no. 267 of the 8th August 2025, which highlights certain situations incompatible with the exercise of working activities by inmates. This analysis aims to verify the compliance of the applicable legal provisions with the standards imposed at the constitutional level, in order to guarantee the observance of fundamental rights, as well as with the principle of fairness and equality, which are essential in a democratic society that places emphasis on the process of rehabilitation and social reintegration of persons deprived of liberty.

The offence of incitement to or facilitation of suicide in the case of victims under the age of 13 – a legal analysis

2026-07-14T03:06:59+00:00

This article aims to highlight the issues raised by Article 191 para. (3) of the Criminal Code, on how this offence differs from murder committed through the act of the victim. Thus, I will argue that the offence of incitement to or facilitation of suicide involving a minor under the age of 13 should be regarded as a form of murder committed through the act of the victim, given that the offence of incitement to suicide presupposes a certain level of understanding on the part of the victim regarding what suicide and death generally entail.

The offence of money laundering – problematic scenarios analysed in the judicial practice of German courts

2026-07-14T03:07:01+00:00

This article aims to analyse a series of problematic hypotheses examined in the German case-law regarding the crime of money laundering. Through this study, we seek to identify a series of cases that have sparked debates in the case-law of German courts, while also presenting our perspective on the correct legal solution. The utility of this study lies in providing “in advance” guidelines for resolving issues related to the application of the money laundering offense that may arise in the judicial practice of the Romanian courts.

Judicial individualization in the selection of the principal penalty for an adult natural person

2026-07-14T03:07:03+00:00

In the following, I set out to analyse the steps imposed by the Criminal Code for the judicial individualization of punishment. I refer to “steps” because, although the current criminal and criminal procedure legislation imposes a single manifestation of the will of the court which establishes both the existence of criminal liability and its concrete materialization through the selection of the type of penalty, the amount or duration of the sanction, as well as possible alternative means of the execution of the sentence, a careful study of the rules of the Criminal Code seems to indicate a staged approach.
In this paper I will present each of the stages of this process, showing how the rules governing them are interpreted and attempting to answer those aspects that have controversial interpretations. I believe that the clarifications provided by this article may allow for a more predictable judicial individualization of sanctions, but also for the participants in the criminal trial to formulate arguments that are relevant to the specific requests they have in relation to the judicial individualization of the main sanction.