Falencias jurídicas en el delito de hostigamiento frente a la responsabilidad penal de personas jurídicas

Abstract

The research addresses the problem related to the legal shortcomings of the offense of harassment in relation to the criminal liability of legal entities in Ecuador. To this end, the general objective was to analyze these shortcomings through the application of a qualitative methodological approach, using the historical-comparative, analytical, and deductive methods. Using these methods, the information for this work was collected, which is grounded in a review of literature, legal provisions, jurisprudence, and comparative law. The research found that the shortcomings in the definition of the offense of harassment are not merely interpretive but structural in nature. Article 154.2 of the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP, by its Spanish acronym) establishes a systematic incompatibility with the punitive liability of entities that hold legal personality as defined in Articles 49 et seq., which makes the offense of harassment inapplicable to companies in its current configuration.