The challenges of Criminal Law

Fermín Morales leads the sessions and the publication that pay tribute to the renowned criminal Quintero Olivares

Fermín Morales, professor of Criminal Law at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and full academician of the Royal European Academy of Doctors-Barcelona 1914 (RAED) will participate in the inauguration and moderate the first session of the international conference “Retos del Derecho Penal en tiempos de crisis” (Challenges of Criminal Law in times of crisis), which will be held on January 31 at the Bar Association of Barcelona. The congress will serve as a tribute to the renowned professor Gonzalo Quintero Olivares on the occasion of his retirement.

The sessions will address topical issues beyond the criminal law world as the “Represión penal y Estado de Derecho: La expansión del Derecho Penal” (Criminal repression and Rule of Law: The expansion of Criminal Law), moderated by Morales himself, “Una nueva política criminal contra la corrupción (aforamientos, indultos, ¿imprescribilidad del delito?, ¿tipificación del delito de enriquecimiento injusto?)” (A new criminal policy against corruption (appraisals, pardons, prescription of the crime?, typification of the crime of unjust enrichment?)) and “El Derecho Penal del odio: ¿adiós a la libertad de expresión?” (The Criminal Law of hatred: goodbye to the freedom of expression?). Among the participants are Jesús María Barrientos, president of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia; Francisco Bañeres, chief prosecutor of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia; María Eugenia Gay, president of the Bar Association of Barcelona, or Antoni Pigrau, dean of the Faculty of Legal Sciences of the Rovira i Virgili University, among many other professionals specialized in Criminal Law of the main Spanish and Italian universities.

The congress has its correlate in the publication of the book “Represión Penal y Estado de Derecho. Homenaje al Profesor Gonzalo Quintero Olivares” (Aranzadi) (Criminal Repression and Rule of Law. Tribute to Professor Gonzalo Quintero Olivares), where some of the participants in these sessions and other specialist in Criminal Law offer their input on many of the main issues and challenges posed by the contemporary penal system. The work was also conceived as a tribute to Quintero Olivares and in the selection and development of the different themes highlights the legacy of the honouree.

Doctor of Law, professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona for more than two decades and professor at the ESADE Business School, Morales combines his teaching activity with the professional in his own legal office, specialized in Criminal Law. He also promotes the investigation as head of the magazine “Revista de Derecho y Proceso Penal” (Journal of Law and Criminal Procedure). The academician also chairs the Anti-Doping Committee of the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation and has been a member of the Statutory Commission of the Barcelona Football Club.