1. Criminal law
Description: This research line, which is essentially theoretical, questions the great theoretical-dogmatic systems, from the finalism to the systemic-functionalism, in view of the need to transform criminal law in the face of the threats that current crime represents for the security of society and the state.
2. Criminal policy and punitiveness
Description: Its epistemological status within the Criminal Sciences can be summed up in the formula prescribed by Marc Ancel: the investigation of policies. Such research, essentially theoretical, has as its purpose a double opening: on the one hand, the opening of criminal law to systems and models of action and social control taking into account the history of the present time, namely the profound transformations seen in Western society from the 1970s on; and on the other hand, the opening to the empirical evidence produced by the different constituent disciplines of criminology.
3. Empirical criminology
Description: Criminology is restricted to its empirical aspect, that is, criminology that produces criminological knowledge through the scientific method deployed in quantitative methods and qualitative methods. Such methods apply to antisocial and pre-delinquent behavior, to the offender, to the victim, to criminal police agencies, to judicial decisions, to the penitentiary system and social reintegration, to repetition, and to deviant trajectories. They also apply to the scientific evaluation of policies and practices, namely through Experimental Criminology.