Integral-cultural definition of a criminal punishment An integral-cultural definition: source and application

Abstract

Many scholars feel, like the legal philosopher Joelberg, that "punishment from a theoretical point of view is something mysterious, and from a moral point of view - disturbing" . The mystery and disturbing ambiguity of the punishment makes the formulation of its definition, and the definition of a criminal punishment in particular, which would be satisfactory, an extremely difficult task. A way out of an embarrassing situation of defining a criminal punishment is to indicate the most important circumstances and conditions that must be met in order for some social action to be called a punishment. This involves an exhaustive and comprehensive indication of the components ("constituent elements of punishment"), and at the same time a sharp cut-off of all other types of activities The question about constituent elements that give particular teams behaviour, carried out by authorized persons, the character of a criminal punishment does not concern the description of patterns of such a behaviour and their fulfilment, such as the action related to the enforcement of the obligation to pay a certain amount, physical deprivation of liberty or fulfilment of the obligation to work. It is important, however, to define the conditions in which the legal formulas of such behavior and the specific actions taken on their basis and the situations resulting from them can be described as a criminal punishment.