Vol. 9 (2010): Criminal Law and Conflict of Duties
The text by Juan Pablo Alonso discussed in this issue has as a departing point the problem generated by the existence of multiple criminal norms applicable to the same case, in a context in which the duties and competencies of citizens are not necessarily correlated with those of judges. In his work "Criminal Law Norma and Conflict of Duties" Alonso analyzes the conflict that could occur between two articles of the Argentine Penal Code: 302 section 1 (release of checks without provision of funds) and 176 section 3 (fraudulent bankruptcy). The problem is the following: in Argentina, if one and the same agent has written a check without provision of funds and in turn is under a bankruptcy process, a regulatory dilemma arises. Either he pays the check and is exonerated from criminal responsibility for writing unfunded checks, but he incurs the crime of fraudulent bankruptcy; or he does not pay the check, he incurs in the crime of issuing checks without provision of funds, although he respects the duty not to pay outside the bankruptcy process. Stated head-on: paying or not paying, you will receive a criminal sanction.
