Summary

Recent legal literature has repeatedly directed attention to the editorial deficiencies of offences against the person in the Special Part of the Penal Code, as well as to the need to find some new solutions. The legislator also considered more comprehensive corrections to penal power to be necessary, resulting in the revision of the penal power that culminated in a Penal Code redaction package that entered into force on 1 January 2015. As a result of the revision, several changes were also made to the provisions concerning offences against the person in the Special Part of the Penal Code, and these should eliminate the deficiencies of current solutions. The article is a practitioner’s view of whether and to what extent the changes that entered into force as of 1 January 2015 shall change the previous situation, and especially in the context of physical abuse (Penal Code § 121). In addition, it is found that in the light of the new law, that in practice it would be a favourable time to use a somewhat narrower interpretation of the Penal Code § 121.