Kafka as a criminalist: from literary fiction to criminal reality

Abstract

From the literary works of Franz Kafka, filled with literary fantasy and the creative dimension of the author, themes emerge that include the contemporary ills of the criminal science. Literature, which in this article is mixed with law in order to unveil what the forensic practice insists on masking, illustrates the granting inversion that criminal prosecution has defended as a measure for fairness. From the old criminal legality to the long forgotten minimal intervention, we point out to Kafka, who already described this picture in the early twentieth century, a picture which, unfortunately, is still current. The methodology of this article includes the studies of Law and Literature, proposing the critical reflection of the legal science. The paper gains body and form through the fantastic literary universe of Kafka, importing his fiction into the criminal practice of nowadays.