With this issue, the Revista de Direito Penal completes its first successful year of publication, fulfilling the program it set out to accomplish. In order to facilitate the binding of the volume, a detailed alphabetical index covering all four issues of this first year was prepared, with particular emphasis on the jurisprudence section. In this issue, the reader will find in the doctrinal section the notable study by Prof. Manuel López-Rey on criminology and criminal justice, which constitutes a sharp analysis of current problems concerning criminality, its suppression, and its corresponding study. Likewise, this edition includes another remarkable work by a great foreign master: the lecture by Prof. Sebastián Soler on the definition of criminal law. Master Soler is, without doubt, the most important figure among jurists in this part of the world, for whom we in Brazil hold the highest esteem. His work published here is the first lecture delivered by him in a cycle organized in November of this year by the Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Pelotas, transcribed directly from the tape recording. We hope to see published later this year, in Portuguese, the translation of his treatise, a task to which we have dedicated ourselves for a long time. We also include the highly fitting introduction of Prof. Soler given by Prof. Alberto Rodrigues de Souza, which presents an accurate profile of the Argentine master’s work and its exceptional significance. By the excellent Prof. José Carlos Barbosa Moreira, we include a original work of the highest caliber on the criminal sentence as a civil enforcement title (*título executório civil*), in which key aspects of the subject are examined.By Professor Armida Bergamini Miotto, we publish an exhaustive study on “Crime Prevention,” in which, as always, she demonstrates her expertise and consistently up-to-date knowledge.Also included here are two legal opinions (*pareceres*) by Prof. Roberto Lyra, dealing with the issue of minority under the National Security Law and the elements of the crime of inducement to suicide.Starting with this issue, the Jurisprudence Section adopts a new system of organization: strictly alphabetical, using a uniform abbreviation scheme, and grouping all material on a given subject under a single heading. This will make consultations much easier. Starting with this issue, we inaugurate a new legislation section in which we will publish the complete text of all new criminal laws. Readers will thus be guaranteed comprehensive information regarding legislation in our field. Heleno Cláudio Fragoso
Note: This text is an English translation of the original preface published in Portuguese in the Revista de Direito Penal.