Criminal law response to multiculturalism: An approach to the cultural defense and culturally motivated crime models and their coherence levels

Abstract

In its duty to provide criminal-legal responses to human conduct conflicts, criminal law has faced new and varied challenges derived from the effects of economic globalization and global interconnectivity. Indeed, factors such as multiculturalism, recognized by various international human rights instruments, have defied the theory of crime, particularly the various criminological responses to cultural justifications for typical events. Based on legal dogmatics as the primary method and the documentary analysis technique, the present paper aims both to present the treatment models for culturally motivated behaviors and to consolidate a proposal for glimpsing the coherence level of these models with the international legal framework of human rights and the guarantee of freedom of conscience. Thus, we will establish which treatment from the theory of crime best protects minority worldviews to prevent social homogenization.