The Evolution of Criminal Law. Constitutional, European and Criminal Policy Influences on Legislation in the Field of Criminal Law

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Dominik Brodowski
• Subject Area: Criminal Law
• Term: from 2022 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 499372082

The German legislature amends the German Criminal Code approximately four times per year. Such modifications – and the absence of further such modifications – are shaped and limited by constitutional law, by European and international norms, and by criminal policy decisions. In this thesis, the influences by constitutional law, European (criminal) law and criminal policy on the current evolution of German criminal law are analysed, and conclusions on the (dynamic) level of legal certainty required for provisions in substantive criminal law are drawn. It focuses firstly on an analysis of the restraints and of the stimulations for legislation in the field of criminal law. Secondly, the Europeanized legislative procedure including the interplay between actors and legislative organs on national and European levels is analysed. Thirdly, a comparison of the criminal law guarantee of legal certainty (Art. 103 Abs. 2 German Basic Law) with the general constitutional principles of non-retroactivity, legal certainty and parliamentary prerogatives provides the basis for an analysis whether criminal law provisions may, with the passage of time, become too uncertain and therefore unconstitutional.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants