Economic Analysis of Criminal Law
Between the Economics of Crime and Criminal Dogmatics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46282/blr.2026.10.1.1050Keywords:
Economics of Crime, Criminal Law, Optimum of Criminal InterventionAbstract
The paper discusses the teleological-functionalism of Criminal Law and its paradox between freedom and control, promoting an interpretative economic analysis of Criminal Law. To this end, the following question was formulated: what is meant by an Interpretative Economic Analysis of Criminal Law, considering the methodological framework of the objects investigated within Criminal Law and the Economics of Crime? It presents paradigms of efficiency, optimal criminal intervention, and systemic dysfunctions depending on the criminological school chosen by the interpreter. The general objective is to propose an interdisciplinary methodological framework between teleological-functionalism and microeconomics, highlighting the objects of an interpretative economic analysis of Criminal Law. This is a qualitative, documentary research with a hypothetical-deductive approach, utilising Aristotelian syllogism for hypothesis construction and, from a utilitarian perspective, presenting deductions that are falsifiable, particularly in empirical research on the economic efficiency of criminal policy.
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