Kafka and Empathy in Criminal Law: Deliberation on the Aims of Criminal Procedure

The portrayal of law in literature is valuable as it can challenge the established structures in an informal way. In this article, the author, therefore, interprets various works by Franz Kafka and argues that the structure of the criminal procedure needs to be built considering empathy. He develops this idea by examining mechanisms used by Kafka to create an absurd, dark and Kafkaesque setting. Hence, topics such as the information asymmetry, transparency of the legal proceedings, and alienation of the defendant are tackled. By examining works such as The Trial, In the Penal Colony and The Problem of Our Laws, the author develops the idea of an empathic legal procedure, which should be taken into account during a restructuring of the legal procedure if we want it to be more humane and less akin to Kafka’s dystopic proceedings.

Keywords: Kafka, criminal procedure, literature, law, trial, penal colony, information asymmetry, open court policy, transparency.