Nordic criminal law is often thought of as a distinctive tradition and mode of thinking about and making criminal law. But what are we talking about when we are talking about “Nordic criminal law”? Is Nordic criminal law worth appreciating, preserving, or perhaps even developing, and, if so, why? What about the increasingly clear indications that Nordic penal practice does not align with the dominant perception of Nordic criminal law?
Jørn Jacobsen’s Power, Principle, and Progress: Kant and the Republican Philosophy of Nordic Criminal Law (2024) addresses this multifaceted challenge of analysis and justification by developing a normative account of Nordic criminal law as a distinctive regional approach to the broader obligation of constructing and implementing a conception of criminal law as an essential part of the political arrangements necessary to promote external freedom.
The book is available online open access here; for additional materials, please consult MCLR+ Resources (“Nordic Criminal Law”).
On Kant, Membership and Criminal Law: A Helpful or a Dangerous Dialogue Partner?
Katja Franko
A Normative Compass for Nordic Criminal Law: The Case of Unaccountable Offenders
Linda Gröning
The End of Pragmatism: On Jacobsen’s Kantian Reading of Nordic Criminal Law
Kimmo Nuotio
Nordic Criminal Law: Philosophy, History, and Comparison
Heikki Pihlajamäki
Aided by a Friendly Guide: Normativity as a Challenge for Nordic Criminal Law Science
Jørn Jacobsen
► In preparation for this Forum, MCLR+ hosted a book panel, live streamed on YouTube, on May 30, 2024. The video of that event is available here; the audio is accessible here, or on any of the usual podcast outlets (Spotify, Apple, etc.).
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