%0 Article %A Corcoy Bidasolo, Mirentxu %I Universidad Viña del Mar %D 2012 %T Expansión del Derecho Penal y Garantías Constitucionales %U http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/oaiart?codigo=4334611 %X Given the continuous and global expansion of criminal law, this paper presents the reasons contributing to this, demonstrates the most relevant dogmatic and political criminal problems, and proposes measures to avoid the violation of basic principles on criminal law and the �relaxation� of constitutional guarantees, bothby the legislatorin creating the law and the judgeinits application. Special attention is paid to the rights of defense, in particular the reversal of the burden of proof, through biased interpretations or conceptions on institutes of the theory of crimeas the mens reaor the imputation of the actus reus. The proposals aim to respect the principles of proportionality, harm fulness and Double Jeopardy, especially through there quirement that the criminal law rule effectively fulfi lls its function of protecting the legally-protected right and, in the specifi c case, the harm fulness of this legally-protected right is proved.