Respektuje český zákonodárce princip subsidiarity trestní represe?

In this article the author expresses the conviction that it is necessary to continue to uphold the principle of subsidiarity of penal repression (other terms used are “the subsidiarity role of criminal law”, “the limitation of criminal law” or “the ultima ratio principle”), no matter how ambiguous the hitherto development of the Czech Republic’s criminal policy may have been. To assess the level of country’s criminal law repressiveness, we especially need to look at the scope of criminalization, i.e. the range of anti- social conduct against which the state applies criminal sanctions. Further elements to be considered are the severity of penal sanctions, the minimum age for criminal liability, the scope of circumstances excluding the illegality of an act, the conditions under which criminal liability of a person expires, the conditions under which criminal penalties are enforced, the rigor of procedural laws and above all the standard of fundamental human rights guarantees applicable during criminal proceedings. In the author’s view, the tendency towards more repression has prevailed in the draft of the new Czech Penal Code and is manifested mainly through the criminalization of acts that have so far not been considered criminal offences or have only very recently been introduced by amendment to the Penal Code (esp. by increasing the number of the “prematurely completed” offences and the abstract generally- endangering offences). Further, the draft includes longer prison terms and would introduce a lower age limit for criminal liability and more severe sanctions for particularly dangerous recidivists. The authors expresses serious doubts about this trend and points out its possible negative effects. In the final part the author speaks out for upholding the long-term objective of any modem criminal policy, which is to reintegrate offenders back into society instead of ostracizing them. The means to achieve this objective is the inclusion of offenders into the process of criminal prosecution and sentencing.