Search

The article analyzes the difference between the principle of ne bis in ídem in procedural law and res judicata in criminal matters. It argues that, although both institutions have common points, it is necessary to differentiate them based on their foundation and structure. This distinction has procedural implications and reveals the value of the difference. The article also mentions the historical relationship between ne bis in ídem and res judicata, as well as their application in the Chilean criminal system. [Extracted from the article]

El artículo propone una reconstrucción del alcance del principio ne bis in idem, entendido como la conjunción de una estándar de adjudicación sustantiva y un estándar de clausura procesal, para determinar su ámbito de aplicabilidad en contextos de superposición de regímenes de derecho penal y derecho administrativo sancionatorio. Para ello, se ofrece una caracterización general del principio ne bis in idem como estándar de derecho sancionatrio, en el marco de lo cual se favorece la adopción de un concepto funcional de sanción. Tras una clarificación del sentido preciso que cabe atribuir al principio ne bis in idem en su dimensión como prohibición de punición múltiple y en su dimensión como prohibición de juzgamiento múltiple, se indaga en las consecuencias normativas que de él se siguen, bajo el derecho chileno vigente, en referencia al posible entrecruzamiento del ejercicio de potestades investigativas y sancionatorias de índole penal y de índole administrativa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This discussion paper contains a critique of the establishment of a system of criminal responsibility of legal entities and proposes a restrictive interpretation and application of the law No. 20.393. According to the author, the dilemma of criminal responsibility of legal entities lies in the fact that an option for compromise that allows the legal entity to be considered criminally liable in the strict sense does not exist, since this would mean freeing from responsibility the natural person who represents the organization, or dispensing with the principle of guilt. In effect, if the criminal charge is examined in terms of how it should be understood so that it is possible to impose a punishment on a party that has the characteristics of a legal entity, it is found that such a charge necessarily should be indifferent to the legal status and guilt of its recipient. For this reason, it is deemed that the criminal responsibility of legal entities is a foreign body in Chilean criminal law, which is fundamentally guided by the principle of guilt. [TRANSLATION]