Criminal Policy and Analysis of Legislative Reforms
Assessment of the limits of current Criminal Law and proposals for improvement. Analysis of recent legislative trends, the expansion of criminal intervention, and its dogmatic and constitutional implications.
Theoretical Foundations of Criminal Law
Research on the dogmatic method, interpretation of criminal laws and conceptual assumptions, theories of the norm and punishment, the attribution of mental states, and various forms of responsibility attribution.
Principles of Criminal Law
Study of constitutional principles in criminal matters, such as legality, non bis in idem, proportionality, and the principle of legal reserve, in order to prevent abuse in the application of criminal law and ensure a balance between public safety and individual rights.
Economic and Corporate Criminal Law
Evaluation of how criminal intervention can guarantee the integrity of the economic system, prevent corporate abuse, and deter illegal market practices. It also seeks to improve the regulatory framework and law enforcement to strike a balance between the protection of legal interests and legal certainty for businesses.
Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Offending
Comprehensive analysis combining normative, criminological, and victimological perspectives. Its purpose is to improve prevention policies, design effective treatment strategies for offenders, and ensure a victim-centered approach to protection and harm repair.
Gender-Based Violence and Its Criminal Law Treatment
Analysis of legal mechanisms designed to prevent, punish, and eradicate gender-based violence, with special attention to legislative reforms and their effectiveness in practice.
Hate Crimes and Hate Speech
Study of the criminal response, its balance with freedom of expression, the challenges posed by the prohibition of punishing mere thoughts ("cogitationis poenam nemo patitur"), and its growing influence on social media and new technologies.
Criminal responsibility of minors
Analysis of the principles governing the legislation on the criminal responsibility of minors, the particularities of the process in which it is determined and the criminal phenomena that, according to various sources, have experienced a significant increase in recent years (gender violence, child-to-parent violence in sexual crimes).

The Research Group on Criminal Law, Criminal Policy, and Criminology at the University of Barcelona (DPPCCUB) is a leading center for legal and criminological research at the national and international level. With a long-standing track record, the group is dedicated to the interdisciplinary analysis of criminal law and its impact on society, addressing issues related to criminal policy and criminology from a critical and empirical perspective.

The DPPCCUB research group was founded four decades ago by Professor Santiago Mir Puig and is part of the legacy of the prestigious “Barcelona School.” This academic movement has been decisive in the renewal of contemporary Spanish criminal thought, combining a rigorous dogmatic approach, influenced by the German criminal tradition, with a profound political-criminal orientation inspired by the values of the 1978 Constitution. Mir Puig, a central figure in this school, promoted a reconstruction of criminal law from a rights-based perspective, committed to the social and democratic rule of law. Over the years, the group has kept this academic tradition alive, integrating legal analysis with critical reflection on the role of criminal law in contemporary society. After its founding phase, the group was led by Professor Carolina Bolea Bardon and is currently led by Professor Víctor Gómez Martín.

Its mission is to generate knowledge that contributes to a better understanding of criminal phenomena and to the design of effective strategies for crime prevention, the protection of fundamental rights, and the construction of a more equitable criminal justice system. The group combines a solid theoretical foundation with applied research, promoting projects that address current issues. In addition, it is characterized by a strong international focus, with a particular presence in Latin America, and active collaboration with academic, judicial, and social institutions. This international projection has been reinforced, among other means, through postgraduate teaching in criminal law at the University of Barcelona, which has contributed to training several generations of jurists in the theoretical and ethical framework of the Barcelona School.

CONTACT:

Facultad de Derecho
Derecho Penal y Criminología y Derecho Internacional Público y Relaciones Internacionales
Avda. Diagonal 684, 08034 Barcelona

victor.gomez@ub.edu