Summary

A topical issue in criminal law is whether the imposition of punishment should aim at the correction of a person who has committed a criminal offence. It is possible to take the person of a criminal offender into account upon the imposition of punishment in the following ways: 1. on the criminal political plane; 2. as one of the factors within the general principles of imposition of punishment which affects the type and degree of punishment; 3. in choosing a specific type of punishment. The author of this article comes to the conclusion that consideration of the person of a criminal offender is self evident from the perspective of specific prevention and possible from the perspective of general prevention. In criminal law based on the principle of guilt, such consideration is inevitable. The principle of payment is useless in criminal law.