La prescripción de la acción penal en delitos de acción pública, cuya pena es hasta cinco años

Abstract

From the theoretical review carried out, it was specified that no person can be investigated for the rest of his life for the commission of an alleged criminal act either by action or omission, that is why the legal figure of prescription is applied, and this evidently extinguishes the criminal action initiated by the State. In the Ecuadorian criminal legal system, the figure of prescription is included in Art. 417 of the Comprehensive Criminal Organic Code, which determines certain rules both for the exercise of criminal action from the public sphere and from the private sphere, likewise if whether or not the criminal process has been initiated. Within this study, an investigation is carried out aimed at carrying out a critical legal analysis of the application of Article 417 numeral 3 literal "a", and numeral 4 of the COIP that address the legal institution of prescription in those crimes of public action with established sanction in criminal law up to five years, from a case. The results of the investigation indicate that it is necessary to consider the prescription as a legal institution, and provided the necessary argument for the proposal of a reform to article 417 numeral 3 literal "a" and numeral 4.