La polémica entre Mezger y Welzel sobre el concepto ontológico de acción y la posición sistemática
del dolo centró la atención de muchísimos penalistas del siglo XX. La ciencia se construyó de espaldas
a la política criminal, pues mientras los regímenes dictatoriales reprimían a sus pueblos, los profesores
se ocupaban exclusivamente de estos problemas abstractos. El pretendido “apoliticismo” de la
dogmática no era real, pues muchas de sus construcciones y conceptos se elaboraron en Alemania y en el
resto de países para dar forma jurídica a decisiones adoptadas por el régimen político de turno.
The controversy between Mezger and Welzel about the ontologic concept of action and the
systematic position of the mens rea elements was the object of attention of many scholars during the XXth
century. The science of criminal law was built ignoring criminal policy. While the people were being repressed
by dictatorial regimes, scholars were dealing only with abstract questions. The so-called “apoliticism”
was not real. Many of the constructs and concepts, both in Germany and the rest of countries, were
elaborated in order to give legal form to decisions taken by the political regime.