Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, Italy.
Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Italy.
Leg Med (Tokyo). 2021 Feb;48:101832. doi: 10.1016/j.legalmed.2020.101832. Epub 2020 Dec 26.
Along with rising levels of the infection around the world, the state of emergency prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic has also been having a heavy legal impact. The situation is posing important criminal challenges, as well as an ocean of social and public health issues around the world. It has not only directly affected constitutionally-guaranteed rights and individual freedoms, but also brought to the fore certain types of criminal offence that had previously been of little practical importance, such as the crime of 'maliciously or unintentionally causing an epidemic'. Different countries and states have introduced policies to manage the emergency at different times and in different ways. The measures adopted have been the object of much criticism, also raising questions of constitutional legitimacy in countries like Italy. The present contribution begins with a brief outline of the different international scenarios. Then we examine some of the medicolegal aspects of criminal offences previously envisaged and newly introduced since the arrival of the pandemic. We suggest the need for a sort of 'code of public health laws for the time of coronavirus', that could also be applied to other public health emergencies, pandemic or otherwise. The idea is to give operators in the sector and the general population the opportunity to identify clear and simple rules to follow in the current complex global situation. We need a new, appropriate interpretation of the 'boundaries' of our individual rights in relation to the need to safeguard the wider community and its more vulnerable members.
随着全球感染水平的上升，COVID-19 大流行引发的紧急状态也产生了沉重的法律影响。这种情况不仅带来了重要的刑事挑战，还在全球范围内引发了大量社会和公共卫生问题。它不仅直接影响到宪法保障的权利和个人自由，还凸显了某些以前实际意义不大的犯罪类型，如“恶意或无意引发传染病”罪。不同国家和州在不同时间以不同方式出台了管理紧急情况的政策。所采取的措施受到了广泛批评，也在意大利等国引发了宪法合法性问题。本专题首先简要概述了不同的国际情况。然后，我们研究了自大流行以来先前设想和新引入的一些与犯罪有关的医学法律方面的问题。我们建议制定一种“冠状病毒时期的公共卫生法法典”，该法典也可适用于其他公共卫生紧急情况，无论是大流行还是其他情况。其目的是让该领域的从业者和普通民众有机会在当前复杂的全球形势下确定明确和简单的规则。我们需要根据保护更广泛的社区及其更脆弱成员的需要，对我们个人权利的“界限”进行新的、适当的解释。
