Face-to-face , first term, 70 hours of theory.

First term
Monday from 15:45 to 17:45 at Ommegang Om10
Tuesday from 15:45 to 16:45 at 43 Botanique 1
Wednesday from 10:45 to 12:45 at Ommegang Om10

French.

At the end of the course, the student should be able to master the main currents of modern criminal and criminological thought, as it has developed since the 18th century, the general principles of Belgian positive criminal law and the main characteristics of offences and penalties. The objective is to make the link between the theoretical perspectives of penal and criminological thought and the solutions of positive law, so as to provoke a reflexive approach of contemporary penal law. The student must also be able to handle the different sources of criminal law, whether legislative, doctrinal or jurisprudential.

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The course is divided into two parts.

a) The first, shorter part is devoted to the study of criminal and criminological thinking («Introduction to criminal and criminological thinking I»). It provides a review of the different currents of modern criminal and criminological thinking following a single analysis pattern facilitating their comparison: traditional criminal thinking, social thinking on crime, positivist criminology, functionalist sociological theories, theories of social reaction, currents of thought centred on the return of the victim in the criminal field.

b) The second part is devoted to the study of general criminal law (“Criminal law”). It focuses on the main questions relating to this field of law: criminal law (definition, purpose, relationship with the other branches of law, divisions, sources, scope in time and space, interpretation); the offence (definition, classification, conditions of existence); the offender (subjects, criminal involvement, recidivism); the sentence (definition and characteristics, classification, functions, measure, modalities, alternatives, execution, etc.).

Face-to-face, first term, 70 hours of theory.
The course consists of a lecture centred on highlighting the most important points of the subject, on establishing links between the different parts of the course and comparisons between principles and concepts, on commenting on the applicable provisions and on illustrating the principles on the basis of case law decisions.

Debates with key players in the justice system are also organised as well as participation in colloquia.

The evaluation is based on a written examination, covering the subject matter of the course, with several types of questions. The questions aim to measure the students' level of knowledge, to test their ability to read, understand and explain the legal texts and case law related to the subject.
The student must bring his/her code to the examination, as well as the case law folder (see below for annotation instructions).
The student may also bring the legal and regulatory texts relating to the subject being taught.

The student may not bring to the examination either the criminal law syllabi or the Power Point projected during the course.

The course is supported by two syllabi (part I and part II, coordinated by the course teachers), available in PDF format on the course's Moodle site and for sale at the reprography shop. A Power Point, available on the course Moodle site, is projected during the course in order to facilitate the commentary of legal texts and the analysis of jurisprudence decisions. Students are invited to study with their BAC Saint-Louis code (2022-2023 edition). Finally, a "case law folder", also available for purchase at the reprography centre, contains all the extracts of decisions seen in the course. The student can have this case law folder in his or her possession during the examination.
Students are invited to register on the course Moodle and to consult it regularly in order to be informed of the latest news, in particular via announcements.
An online forum is available to answer questions during the examination session.
At the end of the year, students are asked to evaluate the course.
Those who wish to study the subject in greater depth can consult the reference book, available in the library (Fr. Tulkens, M. van de Kerchove, Y. Cartuyvels and Chr. Guillain, Introduction au droit pénal. Aspects juridiques et criminologiques, 10th edition, Brussels, Story-Scientia, 2014), which includes a substantial bibliography, but is no longer up to date on many points.
A bibliography is also attached to the syllabus.

For the annotation of the BAC Code, holders refer to the instructions included in the BAC Code.
Bookmarks (or "post-its") may be used, but they may only mention the official title and date of the legislation in question.
The index of the LAC Code may be supplemented by verbo's, provided they refer only to the title of the legislation.
As regards the annotation of the caselaw folder, its content may only be circled, underlined or 'highlighted' in whole or in part, using different colours if necessary. The bundle may also be divided by means of bookmarks (or "post-its") on which the titles and sub-titles of the bundle may be reproduced, without any other annotation (no indication of the legal provision relating to the matter).

WARNING: any annotation, even a single word, which exceeds the limits indicated here will be considered as fraud.