Rethink the basic idea of preventive criminal law

ABSTRACT Law is expected to shoulder the two-dimension values of meaning and function, and neither should be neglected. Witnessing the great changes and transformations taking place in the present society, this article attempts to explore how the doctrinal system of criminal law should respond to the propositions raised by the society and balance the two-dimension values of meaning and function. A reasonable doctrinal system should be able to not only improve its responsiveness to the external surroundings, but also maintain its autonomy itself. The basic idea of criminal law is a meta-theory which determines the direction of how to construct the doctrinal system of criminal law. From the perspective of the relationship between the dimension of function and the dimension of meaning of law, the basic ideas and its corresponding doctrinal systems of criminal law can be categorized as three schemes: the classical scheme (or autonomous scheme), the responsive scheme and the reflexive-functionalist scheme. This article put forwards the reflexive-functionalist scheme, and advocates an introduction of constitutional review in a substantive level, so as to achieve a balance between the two-dimension values of meaning and function in constructing the doctrinal system of criminal law.