11 - Proportionality and State Ius Puniendi

Summary

This chapter explores the different levels at which proportionality intersects with and shapes criminal law. Proportionality has been always important in the field but its impact increases if we approach the frontiers of penal intervention from the principles that inform an equalitarian understanding of the law – a central project in contemporary Latin America. The chapter shows the relevance how judgments of excess or defect based on proportionality shape the contours of criminal policy, criminal doctrine and the theory of criminal responsibility, criminal procedure and criminal punishment While exploring these different levels with Latin American social and political backgrounds in mind, and bringing inter-American doctrine into the analysis, the chapter also invites future, broader analysis about how the uses of proportionality in the domains of criminal and human rights law can illuminate and complement each other.