Criminal Law and the COVID-19 Crisis

​This book provides a comparative perspective on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on different criminal law systems. To this end, the book brings together country reports from Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, France and Belgium.


All country reports address the same key issues in order to facilitate comparative conclusions. Those key issues re: criminal liability for spreading the coronavirus, criminal liability of medical staff in triage situations, criminal liability of political decision-makers, as well as further (country-specific) challenges in the context of the pandemic and criminal law. Furthermore, they explore domestic case-law and academic literature relevant in this context.

This book will be useful for criminal law scholars and practitioners as well as policymakers around the world. The comparative approach of the book will provide them with a more informed and objective perception of theirnational systems and their respective approaches to COVID-19 and criminal law. Another key objective of this volume in the ICJ Series is to foster dialogue and an exchange of ideas between stakeholders of different nations and ultimately to enable cross-semination between different criminal law systems.

Prof. Dr. Frank Zimmermann is Professor for Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, European and International Criminal Law as well as Criminal Law and Digitalization at the Institute for Criminal Sciences, Dept. V, University of Münster in Münster, Germany.