Abstract: The penal policy of the Republic of Moldova contains elements of both restorative and retributive justice. The main directions of the penal policy which will be analyzed in this article refer to: (1) incrimination of crimes and establishment of punishments; (2) infliction of punishments; and (3) enforcement of punishments. Since the adoption of current Criminal Code in 2002, Moldovan authorities have expressed interest in the humanization of punishments. The 2008 revision process was in particular focused on reducing the minimum and maximum term of criminal punishments. Moreover, the custodial punishments were re-evaluated and reduced. As a result, 80% of the Criminal Code provisions were amended. Since 2009, the Criminal Code provisions continued to be sporadically amended. In 2011, the Moldovan Parliament adopted the Justice Sector Reform Strategy (2011-2016), which requires specific interventions for the liberalization of penal policy. However, the main amendments operated since 2012 to the Criminal Code were, on the contrary, focused on the criminalization of specific acts and increasing the punishments for specific offences.

Key-words: criminal punishment, penal policy, restorative justice, incrimination, tendencies