Assessing the capacity of substantive criminal law to capture serial homicide in the legal qualification of the act
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper examines the extent to which current substantive criminal law instruments can adequately capture the criminological phenomenon of serial homicide in legal qualification. The author aims to establish a definition of seriality among homicide offenders and poses two key research questions: do legal concepts such as continuous acts, series of offences, and recidivism provide a suitable representation of the complex nature of serial homicide, and how does criminology, as an auxiliary science of criminal law, encounter this phenomenon? Employing a formal-dogmatic approach alongside analysis of the literature and case law, the author critically assesses whether the Polish Criminal Code can fully encompass the complexities of serial homicide.
Author: Konczarek, Anna
Institution: University of Łódź
Language: English
Topic: Criminal Law and Policy
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7140324785
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