determine whether there is a need for an autonomous classification of a certain crime in the following terms: Medical malpractice is usually related to the criminal descriptions related to injuries or homicide. It would seem it is not strictly necessary to include specific criminal descriptions for medical malpractice as long as general descriptions suffice and adequate rules pertaining to the judicial examination of the seriousness of the crime, the circumstances in which it was committed and the responsibility of the perpetrator exist. Notwithstanding, it is the duty of the State to decide the best way to respond, in this area, to the needs for punishment, since there is no binding agreement on the formulation of the description as in other cases in which essential elements of the criminal description, including the accuracy of autonomous descriptions, have been provided for in international instruments, for example, genocide, torture, forced disappearance, etc. 203 105. Thus, it is clear that adapting the judgment to the idea that, in cases in which there is no absolute need to criminalize some conduct, under the prism of International Human Rights Law, the principle of ultima ratio demands that Criminal Law not be used. 106. In effect, enacting criminal laws without adhering to the criterion of strict necessity and without rigorous criteria that guarantee their effective application and coherence distorts the function of Criminal Law and does not adequately serve the purpose of protecting the legal rights of greatest importance to society (which characterizes the instrumental function of criminal law 204). In this way, there is a risk of adopting a merely symbolic criminal law, defined by Roxin and Greco as "criminal provisions that do not primarily have specific protective effects, but are intended to selfrepresent political or ideological groups through commitment to certain values or the repudiation of positions considered harmful". 205 Regarding the distinction between a legitimate criminal symbolic function and an illegitimate one, the authors explain: (...) [It] is natural that all criminal mechanisms seek not only to achieve the prevention and punishment of two specific crimes, but also to exert an influence on the general legal consciousness. To the extent that the State is committed to protecting life, physical integrity, property, etc., it also attempts to reinforce the population's consideration for these values. There is nothing to question you. On the contrary, this positive general prevention call is among the reconceived purposes of criminal law. (...) [A] legitimacy and illegitimacy of the “symbolic” legislative tendencies depend, on the side of the awareness purposes that guide a device and its demonstration of commitment to axiological positions, also on what is necessary for the real protection of a peaceful coexistence. 206 107. Thus, although the symbolic power of the law plays an important role in the criminal system - including preventive effects -, the creation of criminal classifications cannot serve an end in itself, nor merely symbolic purposes. After all, in addition to the symbolic weight of Criminal Law not being able to solve social problems of crime, the constant risk that Criminal Law serves as a "sword" even when its intention is to be a "shield" can culminate in more human rights violations. Not all social desires must Ibid., para. 135-136. Cf. RIPOLLÉS, José. El Derecho Penal simbólico y los efectos de la pena. Boletín Mexicano de Derecho Comparado, vol. 25, 103 (2002), p. 68. 205 ROXIN, Claus; GRECO, Luis Strafrecht: Allgemeiner Tell. Band I (Grundlagen – Der Aufbau der Verbrechensiehre). Munique: C.H. Beck, 2020, p.46 (Our Translation). 206 Ibid., p. 46-47. 203 204 36