Abstract

The historical and conceptual analysis of the confiscation of the proceeds of crime in Spanish legislation shows that it has emerged from the shadows of legal policy to become an important institution which has been the subject of dynamic change. Thus, it has evolved from its traditional consideration as an accessory penalty or an accessory consequence of a penalty, to its current consideration as an institution halfway between criminal and civil law. In just a few years, many articles of the Criminal Code have been affected by this change, making some of the principles of criminal law such as culpability and proportionality, or of criminal procedure such as the presumption of innocence, inapplicable. This extraordinary evolution bears testimony to the difficulties suffered by the scientific and legal subsystem to conform to inputs from the political system which is committed to complying with international and EU organisms with a permanent legal harmonization oriented towards facing the challenges of complex criminal acts motivated by economic reasons.

Keywords

Criminal Law Forfeiture of Assets Illicit Profits Spanish Criminal Code