Las eximentes y atenuantes que afectan la responsabilidad criminal dentro del sistema penal Ecuatoriano, en relación a las causas fisiológicas y patológicas

Abstract

This work addresses the topic “The exemptions and extenuating circumstances that affect criminal liability within the Ecuadorian criminal system in relation to physiological and pathological causes”. Our criminal legislation features some ways to exclude and mitigate liability. Each of them will be studied in four chapters: Chapter one deals with the issue of liability for committing a criminal infringement. Structural elements to be attributed to a subject are verified, that is, whether a person is capable of being guilty; otherwise, it is referred to as nonimputable; that person cannot be considered guilty, but dangerous. Chapter two features physiological causes, as in the case of minors, as an exemption of liability, and the application of regulations regarding juvenile offenders. Chapter three deals with pathological causes, indicating mental disorders and intoxications, which can be deemed as exemptions and extenuating circumstances as long as there is a causal relationship of the mental disorder cancelling or reducing the cognitive and volitional capability at the time the criminal infringement was committed. Auxiliary sciences have been considered; the independence of criminal law has also been highlighted. Lastly, chapter four features an analysis of psychiatric expertise, comparative law and foreign and national jurisprudence.