El juicio de culpabilidad aplicado a la persona jurídica.

Abstract

In the Ecuadorian Criminal Law, there is a criminal code that sanctions legal persons, which makes it reasonable to study and argue the limits in interpretation of the criminal law for the judging of their conducts, respecting the rights that the 2008 Constitution. Objective: Analyze existing rules as to determine the penal responsibility of legal personas and to establish new guidelines that is respectful of the current constitutional principles. Methodology: To reach this goal, a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and explicatory research was performed. Results: It is proven that there are various conducts or acts that are involved when felonies are committed in or using a legal entity, also different factors that influence this circumstances to happen; also, it is shown that there are constitutional principles and requirements that are not been accomplished by judges; and finally, the absence of jurisprudence gives proof of the legal loopholes and the discretion and arbitrariness that could take place when making decisions, based on a legal interpretation of the Criminal Code, transferring the responsibility of a natural person to a legal person. Conclusion: An analysis was performed considering doctrinal and legal rules existing for the judgment of legal persons as corporations in criminal cases, based on the criminal law liability principle and the limits of the state’s coercive power on the basis of constitutional precepts, taking into account foreign cases compared to the ones held in Ecuador.