núm. 27 (2007)

Starting from Hans Welzel’s legal-philosophical work, the present article analyses this German thinker’scontribution to the development of penal law. The text is structured as follows: Firstly, it presents Welzel’scentral ideas; secondly, it discusses and evaluates the main points of criticism regarding the person andthe work of this outstanding lecturer; thirdly, it draws some conclusions in order to contribute to the academicdiscussion of Welzel’s work.

This article analyses, from a critical perspective, the characteristics of the implementation of the prosecutionmodel in Latin America, as well as in some European countries. However, beyond the characterisationand the strengths of the system of prosecution it explores and suggests that the imposition of the modelrepresents in reality a deficit of the North American model of the constitutional state. In the future, theeffects of this deficit could be counterproductive to our societies.

The essay describes the origin of criminology in the 19th century and its different approaches, focusingon the main characteristics of the etiological model as well as the radical paradigm and its tendencies.Within this referential framework, the essay develops a thesis which brings humanistic thinking nearer tocriminology and puts at the center of criminology man, as an individual and social being.

Individual freedom is a right protected by international human rights conventions as well as the ColombianConstitution. The objective of this text is to analyse the subject of freedom in the light of the Colombianpenal code (Law 599 of 2000). It particularly focuses on the approach the legislator gave to the subject ofcoercion.

The article analyses, from a critical perspective and within the framework of criminal policy and the penaldogma, the concept of “Penal Law of the Enemy”. Additionally, the text links this concept to the LatinAmerican reality, taking the case of Colombia as the point of reference.

 Referring to four contemporary Thomistic political philosophers (Copleston, Lachance, Maritain and Chalmeta)we outline the paradigm of Thomas Aquinas’ political philosophy that will serve as the basis for thedialogue with contemporary political philosophers. The sketch of the paradigm will take shape throughthe consolidation of the investigation process, which is in its initial phase. The present article includes twoessays: The first one defines our position with regard to the distinction between political philosophy andpolitical science. This question is the epistemological key for the start of the investigation. Focusing on therelations between the concepts of the common good, the singular and the universal, the second articlediscusses three phases of contemporary political Thomism (the first three quarters of the 20th century,the last one and the current period).The above mentioned essays belong to the context of discovery introduced by Reichenbach in Experienceand Prediction (1938). In the referred context of science, the investigation is in the following phase: search,collection of information and organization of data.

This paper has as it main goal to socialize the research advancements with respect to the specific objectiveof the investigation “Recognize the Peace Special Jurisdiction’s particularities and singularities in relationto the Justice formal administration”. This, it states the relation between the Peace Special Jurisdiction andthe ordinary justice, establishing the existing differences and similarities and identifying the elementsthat make this Jurisdiction, implemented in the 1991 Political Constitution of Colombia and regulated bythe Law 497 of 1999, a particular one. The above is accomplished through a reference framework in whichthe appearance of the Peace justice in Colombia is inscribed, as well as the set up of current theoreticaldebates in relation to the pairing special jurisdiction–formal justice, in contrast with the peace judges’perceptions to finally lay out the consequences that originate theoretical disjunctives around this topic.