EIRP Proceedings, Vol 12 (2017)

Abstract

The paper deals with the issue of criminal policy as an integral part of the general policy of a state and its main component - the prevention of the crime phenomenon. Although the notion of criminal policy is used in the legal language, and not only, for more than two centuries, during which various definitions of this concept have been issued, there are enough indications that it is not correctly understood at this time. For this reason, we attempted to present a possible definition of what was considered to be the position of any government over criminality and a few landmarks of this particularly important activity. At the same time, given the unanimously accepted opinion that the prevention of criminality must precede the fight, I tried to present some opinions regarding this prophylactic enterprise, starting from its delimitation in relation to other notions and activities and continuing with the responsibilities that can be distributed in a rational and timely manner to state authorities.