With this issue, a new chapter begins in the life of this journal, immediately reflected in the refreshed graphic presentation of this edition. From now on, responsibility for this journal passes to a major publishing house, Forense, which will handle its production and distribution—a fact that in itself guarantees the high-level continuity of this publication. The agreement reached will quickly bring the journal up to date, while keeping alive and active the dedicated effort of the team at the Institute of Penal Sciences of Rio de Janeiro (ICIPERJ), who remains responsible for the editorial content. In this issue, the reader will find an excellent work by Professor Alessandro Baratta, from Saarland University, on critical criminology and alternative criminal policy, presented at the colloquium organized by the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP) in 1977, in Madrid and Plasencia. The director of this journal participated in that colloquium, which focused on the issue that currently causes the greatest concern among scholars, namely, criminal policy. Professor Baratta is one of the most vigorous proponents of a modern position in Criminology and Criminal Law, serving as one of the directors of the journal La Questione Criminale. We also include in this issue an article by the director of this journal on evidence in criminal procedure, focusing on aspects of the highest importance for those practicing in our field. The doctrine section concludes with a work by Prof. Heitor Costa Júnior on subjective elements in grounds for justification—a topic seldom discussed among us, in which the author defends the latest doctrinal positions—as well as the excellent report prepared by Professor Juarez Cirino dos Santos on offenses of negligence. This report was presented on behalf of the Brazilian Group of the A.I.D.P. at the preparatory colloquium in Moscow (December 1977). As is well known, this topic will be one of the themes at the XII International Congress of Penal Law, to be held in September 1979 in Hamburg. In the current affairs and communications section, we publish the interesting study conducted by Professors Nilo Batista and Elisabeth Süssekind on criminal defense practice in Rio de Janeiro, as well as the study by Prof. Sérgio Demoro Hamilton on the presence of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in private penal action.There follows the legal opinion of Prof. Luiz Fernando de Freitas Santos on the issue of beneficial retroactivity regarding the legal problem created by the abolition, in our law, of the status of specific recidivism, pointing toward creative solutions ultimately upheld by case law.This issue concludes with our regular sections featuring case law commentaries (highlighted by an exhaustive study by Prof. Damásio E. de Jesus on robbery resulting in death), bibliographic reviews, and legislation.