Direito penal na sociedade do risco: novas formas de tutela dos bens jurídicos supraindividuais

Abstract

The present work is part of the discussion of the expansion of Criminal Law in terms of the protection of supra-individual legal assets, specifically the environmental legal asset. In this vein, we want to verify the legitimacy of the criminal protection of the environment, covered in the phenomenon of the expansion of Criminal Law. At first, the characteristics of current society are demonstrated, here conceived as a risk society, in order to provide an understanding of the changes undergone by the penal system in recent times. Elsewhere, some of the many internal structural conflicts of Criminal Law are presented in the face of new social demands. Finally, we briefly expose some existing currents about the use of Criminal Law in the management of new risks, concluding with the possibility of intervention criminal law in protecting risks and bringing greater social security, provided that respecting the limiting principles of state punitive power and the guarantees of Democratic State of Law, in order to avoid excesses and, neither, grant deficient protection of the assets under guardianship.