NCJ Number
73453
Editor(s)
R Levene,
E Zaffaroni
Date Published
1978
Length
663 pages
Annotation
This
Abstract
analysis of Latin American criminal codes presents proposals for reforms of the existing legislation which include drafts of a laws as well as amendments to the existing statutes.300 This is volume four of a four-part study of criminal legislation in Latin America. The previous three volumes covered 21 countries, giving the full text of criminal laws and statutes for each. The present volume includes proposed criminal legislations to replace and/or amend criminal laws and statutes for Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Guatemala, Peru, and the Eastern Republic of Uruguay. A proposal for a Latin American criminal code is also included. Some of the proposed legislative reforms include decrminalization or reduction of penalties for a wide range of offenses in Columbia, additional extenuating circumstances; and alternatives to imprisonment for an increased number of offenses. The Cuban legislative proposals, on the other hand, reaffirm their retributive penal philosophy, and the death penalty is maintained. Sociopaths and vaguely defined antisocial elements can be placed in preventive detention in Cuba and be subject to other sanctions. Ecuador continues to emphasize crimes of omission (failure to prevent or stop a crime when able to do so) as well as commission; it also maintains the diminished or nonexistent criminal responsibility of a spouse or lover killing or injuring 2 partner caught in flagrant adultery. Mexico excludes political crimes from the concept of recidivism and emphasizes corporate liability. Venezuela follows the Italian model in the determination of criminal responsibility, meticulously defining it in cases of temporary insanity caused by mental illness and other factors. An alphabetical index is appended. For the remaining volumes, see NCJ 73450-52.