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One type of mitigating circumstance established in the Penal Code is the incomplete defense , which reduces the penalty instead of exempting it. Next, in this article we explain what incomplete defenses are, what they are and how they reduce the penalty. We can help you At Dexia Abogados we are lawyers specializing in criminal law in Madrid . If you need a criminal law firm with extensive experience, contact us and find out without obligation . CONTACT US What are incomplete defenses? Incomplete defenses are a type of circumstance mitigating criminal responsibility included in article 21 of the Penal Code , in its first point. These are the grounds for exemption from criminal liability contemplated in Article 20, when all the requirements to exempt from criminal liability are not met in each case. That is, if a circumstance occurs in a crime that in principle would exempt the perpetrator from criminal responsibility, but all the requirements for this are not met, it becomes an incomplete defense that mitigates the penalty.
What are the incomplete defenses? The incomplete defenses are the following, taking into account the exempting circumstances of article 20 of the Penal Code: Anomaly or psychic alteration For it to be an defense, it is necessary that said anomaly or psychic alteration prevent the subject from understanding what he or she is doing, or from acting according to that understanding. Furthermore, the temporary mental disorder cannot DM Databases be caused by the person themselves to commit a crime, nor can this defense be claimed if they had foreseen or should have foreseen that in that situation they would commit that crime. Well, if this circumstance does not eliminate the subject's ability to understand but does diminish it, it will be a mitigating factor instead of an excuse. Intoxication due to alcohol or drug consumption As in the previous case, it is required that the subject has not sought that state with the intention of committing a crime, or had not foreseen or should have foreseen that he would have committed the crime in that situation.
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Aside from this, if it is not a complete intoxication due to which the author of the acts cannot understand what he is doing or act according to that understanding, but it does affect his understanding, we will be faced with an incomplete defense. Severe alteration of awareness of reality Again, this circumstance will mitigate rather than exempt criminal liability if it only diminishes the person's capacity and does not eliminate it completely. Self defense The Penal Code requires that there be an illegitimate aggression, a rationality of the means used to prevent or repel such aggression and there is a lack of sufficient provocation on the part of the defender. Therefore, if, for example, there is no proportion between the weapons used by the aggressor and the victim (the criterion of parity of weapons established by jurisprudence) or the defender provoked but not sufficiently, we may be faced with an incomplete defense for legitimate defense .
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