Esbozo de cuatro reglas sobre la voluntariedad del desistimiento de la tentativa

Abstract

After putting forward a general explanation of the legal concept of abandonment of criminal attempt and its requirement of voluntariness, this paper points out certain critical points of the theory of abandonment. Furthermore, the paper presents (without aiming at building a systematic and comprehensive theory) some topoi that cannot be overlooked when solving difficult cases of abandonment. In conclusion, the referred topoi are systema-tized in the form of four rules that are deducted from two criminal-political principles of Colombian criminal law, i.e., the principle of legality and the use of threats as a dissuasive method by the law and the offense-based cha-racter of criminal law.