Control of Emotional Behavior: A View of Criminal Responsibility against Gender Violence
- Articles
- Submitted: February 17, 2013
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Published: July 31, 2014
Abstract
In Latin America there are several criminal systems by means of which cases resulting in damages caused by perpetrators affected by or even victims of emotional conditions which modify their habitual behavior have been deemed as punishable events. These systems are even more complex when dealing with crimes of passion in which most victims are women. This opens a window for analyzing criminal responsibility in relation to emotional behaviors, the weak line between emotion and disease for assessing the defendants’ behavior based on
forensic and judicial documents that clearly prove the violent action, as well as justice managers’ discretion when they should qualify the victim’s reaction against his/her perpetrator as “provocative, serious, and unjust” to be in compliance with
requirements demanded by criminal mitigating circumstances. These reflections have been made after analyzing three cases of murdered women, heard by Pasto (N) Judicial District (Colombia).