Reflexiones sobre la nueva defensa social en el marco de modernidad reflexiva

This paper studies the reception of the Social Defense movement in Spain, both at a theoretical and a legal level. Relevance here has been limited and marked by criticisms of imprecission and not enough garantism. On the other hand, some of its ideas are still relevant, as the criticism to a Law that is disconnected from reality, the opposition to punishment for the sake of it, and its humanitarian spirit. Social Defense, at the same time, can play an important role nowadays, when our societies experiment deep and quick changes −characteristic of which is, according to many, an expansion of criminal Laws. Because it re-introduces the criminal as an individual, Social Defense favors the treatment of offenders, which can be seen as a limitation to punitivism; because it insists in individual dangerousness and the identification of dangerous offenders, it can favor the expansive effect of penal intervention. En el presente estudio revisa, en primer lugar, la recepción de la Defensa social en España, a nivel doctrinal y legislativo. Aquí, la influencia ha sido limitada y marcada por críticas de imprecisión y de insuficiente garantismo. Sin embargo, algunas aportaciones mantienen plena relevancia, como su crítica a un Derecho desconectado de la realidad, el rechazo del castigo por el castigo y su vocación humanista. La Defensa social, por otro lado, puede desempeñar un rol importante en un momento en que nuestras sociedades experimentan cambios profundos y vertiginosos −caracterizados por muchos como una expansión de las leyes penales. Al reintroducir al delincuente como individuo, el defensismo favorece el tratamiento de los delincuentes, lo cual puede verse como una potencial limitación al punitivismo; al hacer hincapié en la peligrosidad individual y en la identificación de sujetos peligrosos se puede favorecer el efecto expansivo de la intervención penal.This paper studies the reception of the Social Defense movement in Spain, both at a theoretical and a legal level. Relevance here has been limited and marked by criticisms of imprecission and not enough garantism. On the other hand, some of its ideas are still relevant, as the criticism to a Law that is disconnected from reality, the opposition to punishment for the sake of it, and its humanitarian spirit. Social Defense, at the same time, can play an important role nowadays, when our societies experiment deep and quick changes −characteristic of which is, according to many, an expansion of criminal Laws. Because it re-introduces the criminal as an individual, Social Defense favors the treatment of offenders, which can be seen as a limitation to punitivism; because it insists in individual dangerousness and the identification of dangerous offenders, it can favor the expansive effect of penal intervention