Repetition of offenses

Abstract :

The repetition of offenses consists in the successive committing of several offenses by the same perpetrator. It generally corresponds to set of well-known situations, processed legally by distinct and separate institutions: combination of offenses, legal recidivism and repetition of offenses. But whereas the legislator considers how to punish a perpetrator of several offenses, he/she does not give us the origin of his/her hypotheses, that is to say how to distinguish and count the offenses. The object of this study has a prospective impact: it implies that we detach ourselves from current mechanisms in order to elaborate an encompassing notion of repetition, to which corresponds a unique regime. The repetition of offenses is characterized by two or more offenses committed successively by a same perpetrator in a limited period of time. In order to lead to a specific repression, the repetition must not concern just any offenses. The repeat offenses must be connected with each other. They must share a certain seriousness or identity. Furthermore, punishment will not be the same if the offender has already been convicted by a penal decision. Depending on the existence of this previous sentence, the repeat offenses committed by the habitual offender will lead to a more severe punishment.