👉The table of contents so far is here.
Chapter 6: The System of Offences Law
6.1. From Criminal Law to Offences Law
A true communist society would not have a penal system. Punishment is the ultimate right-denial measure imposed by state power, which only exists on the premise of state sovereignty, and in a communist society where the state is abolished, it would lose its basis for existence.
On the other hand, if there is a system that professes to be communist but retains the penal system in its entirety, it would not be a true communist society, but would remain a nominal communist society that still retains the framework of the state.
However, the absence of a penal system, of course, does not mean that the solution to crimes will be left to extralegal lynchings or revenge. Instead, a new system will be introduced to correct and rehabilitate criminals instead of punishment.
In this respect, it can be considered that the path of progress from retributive punishment to educational penal punishment, which has already appeared within the framework of the reformist penal system, will be taken a step further, removing the framework of punishment and transforming it into a treatment whose sole purpose is the correction and rehabilitation of criminals.
However, when it comes to "educational punishment," the nature of punishment will still remain, but when it is transformed into treatment whose sole purpose is the correction and rehabilitation of criminals, crimes will no longer be understood as moral "sins" but as serious violations that require special treatment.
Therefore, in a communist society, there is no "criminal code" that defines crimes and punishments, and a code of law called the "offences code" corresponds to the "criminal code" in the sense that it is a law that defines violations and the treatment for those who commit specific offences. The "offences code" is a law that predetermines what acts constitute violations and prescribes the treatment that can be selected for them and the content of such treatment.
This principle of Nulla poena sine lege scripta (Latin for "no penalty without written law"), is not very different from traditional criminal law under continental law system. However, since the treatment of a offence is determined not by the severity of the legal interest violated by it, but by the degree to which the perpetrator needs to be corrected, the treatment of each offence does not correspond individually in advance. To that extent, the by-the-book formal statutory principle is rejected.
On the other hand, unlike common law criminal offences under Anglo-American law, it is not permitted under communist law to create new criminal offences through judicial precedents without written laws. In order to ensure predictability, the prior determination of offences by written laws that will be subject to corrective treatment is a fundamental principle of communist offences law.
Note: Ultimately, the only legal crimes that remain - the last crimes, so to speak - are crimes against humanity, such as genocide. However, these types of crimes are dealt with internationally as crimes under international law (treaties) (see my article).
👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.
