Considerations on the Danger to Public Order in the Procedure for Postponing the Execution of a Prison Sentence or Life Imprisonment
Considerations on the Danger to Public Order in the Procedure for Postponing the Execution of a Prison Sentence or Life Imprisonment

Summary/Abstract: The article examines, from a predominantly theoretical perspective, the criterion of the “danger to public order” in the procedure for postponing the execution of a prison sentence, as configured by the criminal and enforcement criminal legislation currently in force. It explores the role of this criterion within the architecture of criminal policy, its relationship to the purposes of punishment and to the requirements of protecting fundamental social values, as well as the way in which it conditions the convicted person’s access to a more favourable execution regime. The analysis highlights the inherent tension between the clemency dimension of the postponement of sentence execution and the imperatives of safeguarding the legal order, pointing out the risk of either an excessively restrictive or an overly permissive application of the criterion of danger to public order. On the basis of correlating doctrinal arguments with the main trends in case law, the article proposes several interpretative benchmarks and directions for normative adjustment, aimed at clarifying the legal content of the notion of danger to public order and at contributing to the development of a more coherent and predictable judicial practice in the field of postponing the execution of prison sentences.

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