Inclusion of femicide suicide as a separate crime in the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code

Abstract

This study examined feminicidal suicide as an extreme manifestation of gender-based violence and as a direct consequence of the systemic failure to ensure the effective protection of women’s rights. The phenomenon, theorized by scholars such as Marcela Lagarde and Jane Caputi, is grounded in the need to render visible the deaths of women induced through coercion and sustained abuse. Similarly, Verónique Wester-Oiusse underscored the importance of its criminal classification under the principle of legality, which prohibits the sanctioning of conduct in the absence of a prior legal norm.The principal objective of this research was to establish the necessity of recognizing and incorporating feminicidal suicide as an autonomous criminal offense within Ecuador’s Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP). This proposal is framed within a gender-based approach that seeks to close existing legal gaps and to guarantee the comprehensive protection of victims.Methodologically, the study adopted a qualitative, non-experimental design grounded in doctrinal and comparative legal analysis. It examined the legal frameworks of El Salvador and Chile—jurisdictions that have already incorporated this criminal figure—and complemented this with the analysis of two emblematic Ecuadorian cases: Paola Guzmán Albarracín and Gabriela Díaz Cañizares, in which sexual and psychological violence culminated in suicide.The findings revealed that the absence of a specific criminal provision addressing feminicidal suicide within Ecuador’s COIP perpetuates impunity, revictimization, and legal vulnerability for women subjected to gender-based violence. The study concludes that the typification of feminicidal suicide would significantly strengthen Ecuador’s penal framework, align it with international human rights standards, and facilitate the development of comprehensive public and criminal policies aimed at eradicating violence against women and safeguarding their right to a life free from violence.