Penal Democracy and the Post-Enlightenment: What Remains of the Penal Constitutionalism of the 1970s

Abstract

This paper analyzes the so-called crisis of the principle of legality, starting from a historical examination grounded in penal constitutionalism, but expanding to other issues that highlight the need to rethink the legal doctrine built around this principle. It considers the changes in its structural foundations resulting from the current state of conflict faced by the legislative —as source of criminal law— and, ultimately, the broader political debate.