Le ragioni extrapenali dell'osservanza della legge penale: esperienze e prospettive

Criminal law should nowadays seriously take in consideration the conditions allowing or hindering compliance of legal and social norm. Lawmaking and legal policiy needa to achieve clear understanding of the reasonable place criminal punishment should have within an ample framework of possible legal rules and means. This requires the collection of sound sociological, criminological and psychological knoweledges, especially in the field of comunnity prevention and social control. Only through such scientific approach criminal law can stick to the “extrema ratio” principle, namely be the last resource of social control, thus sparing the high material and human costs it requires. Moreover lawmakers, before passing any bill envisioning some sort of criminal punishment, should think of the possible “stakeholders” motivated or interested in contributing to the compliance thereof or of the social rules such punishment is intended to reinforce.