Farewell to Professor Antonio Beristain

An exemplary teacher
Antonio Beristain: penalist, criminologist, victimologist
Eighty-five years old and after a rich academic life, full of successes and achievements, in which he remained active until Christmas Eve, the 29 December 2009, Prof.Dr.. Dr.h.c. Antonio Beristain Ipiña left us.
Born in Medina de Rioseco (Valladolid) the 4 avril 1924, in a family in Bizkaia, since the age of 4 years the life of Professor Beristain Ipiña was spent in the Basque Country, where he also developed the most important part of his life as a researcher, Starting from February 1973 at the Faculty of Law of San Sebastian.
Many are the research merits of this prestigious Doctor of Law from the Complutense University of Madrid (1961) and Degree in Philosophy (Burgos, 1950) and in Theology (Frankfurt, 1957). Hundreds of works and writings, distributed in the form of books or articles published by important publishing houses and in the best Spanish and foreign specialized magazines, and dedicated to the clarification of key points of the theory and practice of Criminal Law, Criminal Policy, of Criminology and Victimology.
The work of its first academic stage – on the New Social Defense, danger offenses, finalism in criminal law, juvenile and juvenile delinquency, drugs, the fine, death penalty and prison, Penal measures in contemporary law or assault and battery – have animated the scientific debate with fundamental contributions from the best comparative doctrine, and influenced the penal and prison legislation adopted in application of the Constitution and the long debates on the reform of the legislation of minors.
From the foundation of the Basque Institute of Criminology (1978), particularly attracted by the contribution that this young science presents for Criminal Law and Criminal Policy, Beristain has become one of the main promoters of the development of Criminology in Spain. The same phenomenon occurred towards the end of the years 90 with its contributions in the victimological field : again, the work of Antonio Beristain stood out as a pioneer, gradually radiating its concern for victims to the doctrine of our closest entourage where the serious consideration of the contributions of Victimology has already begun to gain strength among doctrine and researchers. In one of his last works (The Victimology of Maxims, after Auschwitz), published in 2009, Antonio Beristain summarized his vision of Victimology, like a multi science, inter and transdisciplinary, -non vindicative- called to enrich the research and practice of criminal law, of criminology, politics, sociology and philosophy.
A central feature of Beristain's work is, in any case, the direct and fearless treatment of the relations between the legal sciences and the axiological and spiritual sciences, as well as the cardinal points of Criminal Law, of Criminology and Victimology : those where the correction of traditional scientific solutions often encounters great difficulties in the light of the criteria of material justice and always taking as a starting point multidisciplinary contributions allowing to see the delinquent phenomenon and victimization from new perspectives.
Because of its active commitment against unjust situations in favor of human rights, he suffered significant personal difficulties in his life : during Francoism by his fight against the death penalty and his defense of the rights of prisoners (“Prisons should not be cemeteries”) ; during the last stage of his life, through its frontal combat against the various profiles of terrorist macrovictimization (specifically, of ETA terrorism).
His work promoting penitentiary volunteering and with victims... are other manifestations of the liveliness that characterized his life and his commitment to building a better society., at the service of the less privileged and the victims.
Academically, with its often polemical positions, but always open to scientific debate, and its effort in the search for a more humane penal system, focused on offender repersonalization and victim satisfaction, the influence among us of Antonio Beristain is, without a doubt, fundamental. In effect, numerous are the promotions of university students who received his teachings directly at Deusto, Valladolid, Madrid, Oviedo, at the Faculty of Law of San Sebastian, at the Basque Police Academy, to Arkaut, in the training centers of several local police and especially in the classrooms of the Basque Institute of Criminology, that he founded.
Here too, the contribution of this singular master left no one indifferent.. It is stressed in the East that the true master, rather than transmitting the learned knowledge he possesses and has learned, strives to “awaken” the disciple, to accompany and support him in his search
particular of the truth, provoking a deep questioning of what is not questioned, the effort to discover new profiles allowing us to understand reality. well, Antonio Beristain, good connoisseur of penal theory, criminology and victimology, generally seemed unconcerned with repeating in class knowledge easily accessible through the bibliography and preferred to concentrate his efforts on pushing the student to discover "the hidden face of the Moon". Determined to raise rebellion against injustice, Beristain's classes were certainly different, because the monologue from the pulpit was substituted by the permanent provocation to dialogue and to the contrast of positions around the burning questions at the penal level, criminological and victimological.
As for his contribution at the head of the Basque Institute of Criminology, it is no less fruitful, with the promotions of the Master and the Diploma of Criminology, Eguzkilore’s collection, the many courses, seminars, days, scientific conferences and meetings organized, as well as the creation in San Sebastian, from one of the three International Centers of the International Society of Criminology, the International Center for Research on Delinquency, marginality and social relations, that he continued to preside until his death at the request of the President of the University of the Basque Country. Within the Institute and the International Center, Professor Beristain has led research activities for decades and directed several doctoral theses and scientific works, having trained most of the teachers and researchers who are currently developing their teaching and research activity in the penal and criminological field in the Basque Country.
Naturally, the academic trajectory of Antonio Beristain has found important recognition at the highest level internationally, where he participated in the activity of important scientific organizations. Invited to several conferences, Congresses and Meetings of Experts of the Council of Europe and the United Nations, he was a Member of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Criminology, Member of the Advisory Board of International Documentation- and Study Center for Youth Conflicts (Wuppertal, Germany), Correspondent of the Journal of Criminal Science and Comparative Criminal Law (Paris), of the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (Brussels), 1976-2001, Corresponding member of the Mexican Society of Criminology, Corresponding member of the Instituto de Derecho Penal Comparado of the Catholic University of La Plata (Argentine), Corresponding Academy of the Mexican Academy of Criminal Sciences, Titular Member of the Sul-Rio-Grande Society of Criminology (Brazil), Founder and Director of Revista Eguzkilore. Cuaderno del Basque Institute of Criminology and Foreign Professor of the Doctorate in Law at John F University. Kennedy (Buenos Aires, Argentine).
Antonio Beristan was Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour (France) (1977) and the National University of Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires (Argentine) (2005). Among other recognitions we can highlight :
– the Medal of “The Hebrew University of Jerusalem” (1973), la Médaille du Mérite Criminologique de la Sociedad Brasileira de Criminología e Ciencia Penitenciaria (1980), the “Santo Ivo Medal”, octroyée par l'Egregio Superior Council of the Fraterna Ordem di Christo (1980), the Penitentiary Social Merit Medal (1994), the Felix Restrepo Medal, S.J., of the Pontifical Javeriana University (Colombia) (2001), the Grand Cross of the Order of San Raimundo de Peñafort (2001);
– the following prices : Hermann Mannheim Prize for Comparative Criminology (1993), Friendliness Award from the Professor Manuel Broseta Foundation (2002), Prix International Covite, granted by the Collective of Victims of Terrorism in the Basque Country (2003), Prize of the José Luis López de Lacalle Foundation (2005), “Human Rights” Prize 2005 » of the General Council of Spanish Bars (2006), Catalan Civic Friendliness Award (2007), Prix ​​Gregorio Ordonez (2009).
Two Spanish university chairs bear his name : the “Antonio Beristain” Chair for Studies on Terrorism and its Victims, created by the Institute of Human Rights ‘Bartolomé de las Casas’ of the Carlos III University of Madrid (2006), and the International Chair of Victimology “Antonio Beristain”, instituted by the University of Murcia and the Victimology Foundation, Murcia (2008).
Many of us believe that we were very lucky to have known Antonio Beristain, to have been able to follow his activity closely, to have enjoyed his magisterium, of his care, for his support in so many academic situations, familiar, personal… In the name of all the members of the Basque Institute of Criminology, which he founded and for which he worked in a distinguished way, tenacious and tireless, we want to express our fondest memories of this prominent figure in criminal law, of Criminology and Victimology in Euskadi.
Admired master, dear Antonio, rest in peace!
Jose Luis de la Cuesta Arzamendi
Director of the Basque Institute of Criminology
President of the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP-IAPL)