The criminal-legal basis of the aggravation clause «victims in a vulnerable or especially vulnerable situation» of the criminal code: towards a concept of «victim vulnerability»

Abstract

The aggravation clauses provides for in the Penal Code, as a consequence of the situation of vulnerability of special vulnerability of the victim, present many problems, both from the point of view of the legal criminal basis, and from the delimitation of them, as a consequence of the adoption of a legislative technique that, in the present field, is characterized by its heterogeneity and lack of uniformity. The present work aims to address in an exhaustive manner the question of the conceptualization of the aforementioned clauses, as well as the concretion of the legal-criminal basis in an attempt to provide them with the necessary coherence and rationality within the framework of its own Criminal Law of a Democratic State.