Diritto penale e principi costituzionali

The essay offers a systematic overview of the Italian Constitutional Court’s case law on substantive criminal law over seventy years of constitutional adjudication, focusing specifically on judgments declaring legislation unconstitutional. It examines the main constitutional principles governing criminal law, including legality, precision, non-retroactivity, retroactivity of the more favourable criminal law, culpability, proportionality and the rehabilitative purpose of punishment. The contribution also analyses the Court’s review of legislative choices concerning criminal offences, sanctions, security measures and the execution of penalties, showing how judgments of unconstitutionality have progressively shaped and constrained the legislature’s choices in the criminal field.