Bill 174.

Summary.

The bill proposes to amend Article 115 of the Criminal Code (Código Penal), which governs the extinguishment of a sentence. The amended article lists the death of the sentenced person, completion of the sentence, the victim’s forgiveness in cases authorized by law, a pardon, an amnesty, prescription, rehabilitation, and other cases established by law as grounds for extinguishment. Within that article, the proposal identifies the offenses for which the victim’s forgiveness could operate as a ground for extinguishing the sentence.

The list begins with negligent homicide, personal injury, and negligent injury. It also covers theft, misappropriation, fraud and other fraudulent offenses, unlawful occupation, damage to property, and offenses committed using checks. Failure to fulfill family obligations is included as well. For these offenses, the provision addresses the legal effect of the victim’s forgiveness after a sentence has been imposed, within the framework of the amended Article 115.

The bill further lists evasion of contributions and improper withholding, provided they do not affect State property. It includes intellectual property offenses that do not endanger public health, defamation and insult, violations of the inviolability of the home and of confidentiality, and falsification of documents to the detriment of private persons. The qualifications concerning State property, public health, and harm to private persons form part of the proposal’s definition of the offenses covered by the victim’s forgiveness.

The amendment establishes an express exclusion for offenses against sexual freedom and integrity: a victim’s forgiveness would not extinguish the sentence in those cases. For the offenses included in the list, admission of forgiveness would be governed by the same conditions established in Article 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Código Procesal Penal) for withdrawal of the punitive claim. The proposal thus links admission of forgiveness to the conditions in that procedural provision.

Article 2 identifies the measure as an amendment to Article 115 of the Criminal Code. Article 3 provides that the law would take effect upon promulgation. The proposal concerns the administration of criminal justice, victims, and persons sentenced for the listed offenses. The public legal instruments it names are the Criminal Code, whose provision would be amended, and the Criminal Procedure Code, which supplies the referenced conditions for admitting forgiveness. The social and economic areas addressed by the listed offenses include family obligations, property and financial dealings, intellectual property, privacy, and the protection of persons from injury.