Penalties in Ecuador’s COIP, after Daniel Noboa’s consultation, what is planned? – 2024-07-23 12:08:07

2024-07-23 12:08:07

“He President He did not send the texts of the reforms in the consultation, even though he could have done so, and that is what has him in trouble today, because the Assembly You can review your bill.”

Of course, Encalada made clear, the National Assembly must comply with the popular mandate. However, there are several “disproportionate” reforms that end up affecting the logic of the COIP.

According to Encalada, the proposal even reaches the “absurd” level of punishing with greater penalties the possession of weapons than homicide. The Assembly must approve increases in sentences in a technical manner and not arbitrarily, as proposed by the President Daniel Noboa in some cases.

Noboaprecisely, sent a proposal to the Assembly that contemplates the ranges for the increases in sentences.

Carlos Verawhile condemning the violence that is experienced in Ecuador, He confirmed the need for action and approval of increased penalties.

The legislator assured that the proposal was made responsibly, based on the increase in crime in the country and, at the same time, evaluated the proposal of Daniel Noboa.

He presented a comparative table of current penalties, those suggested by Noboa and those of the commission.

Thus, for example, the current penalty for human trafficking, without aggravating circumstances, is 13 to 16 years old and both in the proposal of Daniel Noboa and the commission, they are contemplated 16 a 19.

As regards contract killing: currently the penalty is 22 to 26 years oldand the approaches are of 26 a 30from both sides. Kidnapping for ransom, on the other hand, is about 10 to 13 years, and 13 to 16.

The arguments of the Assembly commission

The assemblywoman Lucía Posso, member of the occasional commission, He mentioned that, along with the increase in sentences, the restructuring of the prison system must be addressed.

Among the grounds for the increases in sentences are that, in 2023, the provinces of The Rivers, Guayas, El Oro, Manabi and Esmeraldas were the most violent. They accounted for 83% of all the violent deaths in Ecuador.

In 2024, the criminality It spread to other parts of the country, such as Pichincha, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas and Azuay.

Have the reforms to the COIP been successful?

The criminal lawyer Paul Encalada He recalled that this is not the first time that the COIP. In fact, since the approval of the standard in 2014, it has undergone at least two changes per year. The result: legal uncertainty.

For Encalada, the continuous changes reflect populist measureswhich have not been effective in reducing insecurity.

The own fiscal Diana Salazar has pointed out that Despite the increase in penalties, the crime rate has not decreased and this is due to other factors. He stated that a minor offense cannot be punished in the same way as a more serious one.

Although, in the proposal that was returned to the occasional commission, it is established that there must be a coherent relationship between the degree of violation of a right and the severity of the penalty.

According to the report of the occasional commission, in 2023, there was a person victim of homicide every 69 minutes. The National Police reported that in that year 7,592 violent deaths were recorded, more than 40 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

The increase was and 64.9% Regarding the 4 603 cases collected in 2022.

Other points of the proposal addressed by the occasional committee

In article 3, the reform to number 4 of article 16 is proposed: “Serious violations of the human rights shall be imprescriptible, both in the action and in the penalty.” human rightscrimes against international humanitarian law, murder, femicide, contract killing, kidnapping, kidnapping for extortion, crimes against personal integrity and freedom resulting in death, crimes against sexual and reproductive integrity whose victims are girls, boys and adolescents…”.