Resumen

CHAVES JUNIOR, Airto. Penal Control of Surplus: The Symbolic Functions and Inverted Effectiveness of the Criminal Law as Its Stated Objectives. Rev. Fac. Derecho Cienc. Polit. - Univ. Pontif. Bolivar. [online]. 2011, vol.41, n.114, pp.77-130. ISSN 0120-3886.

This article aims to analyze the non-declared criminal law goals and the penalty in the contemporary State. It addresses a selectivity of the criminal justice system, noting that the penalty has purely symbolic functions of manifestation of power, because only are submitted to it the innocents of the system, especially those belonging to lower social strata. The purpose of this selective operation, although unreported, manifests itself solely for the maintenance of that power, through which it can be concluded about the enormous difficulty of whether theorizing on a socially useful function for the criminal justice system. The theoretical contribution is rooted on the Critical Criminology based on the paradigm of social reaction and in contrast to the etiological paradigm, widely used and accepted until the 1960s. The paradigm of social reaction denies the basic principles that supported the traditional criminology, among which can be found the principle of order and the principle of prevention. For critical criminology, the prevention principle, rather than having an effect on the re-educated delinquent, determines the consolidation of a proper criminal career (labeling approach), turning the penalty into a powerful crime reproducer. The article also addresses the symbolic functions of deprivation of liberty and its inverted effectiveness as for its stated objectives. They are, we say, symbolic because the manipulation of criminal enforcement, in the way in which it presents itself, cannot be effective (or is not meant to be), but only can it raise the appearance of functionality and effectiveness in relation to a determined project. Finally, the paper worries about the legitimacy of the ideologyof the(re)socializationtreatmentbecause itdistorts itself asplanning(should be) of a "being who is still not" in order to become a "never will be that" being, since it doesn't seem possible to happen.

Palabras clave : criminal law; symbolic functions; reversed efficacy; legitimacy; penalty.

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