1.1 What are the relevant statutes and codes?
The relevant statutes and codes on domestic violence in Chile are as follows:
- Law 20.066 regarding Domestic Violence (Ley 20.066 de Violencia Intrafamiliar (LVI)), which aims to prevent, punish and eradicate domestic violence and grant protection to victims of violence
- Criminal Code (Código Penal (CP))
- Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence Against Women ("Convention")
- Law 19.968, which creates family courts (Ley 19.968 que Crea los Tribunales de Familia (LTF))
- Criminal Procedure Code (Código Procesal Penal (CPP))
1.2 What is the controlling case law?
The Chilean judicial system is not jurisprudential, so there are no judicial resolutions that should be applicable in other cases than those in which they were issued (Article 3, paragraph 2 of the Civil Code, "Judicial sentences have no force mandatory but with respect to the causes in which they are currently pronounced").
1.3 What are the specific parts of the court system that address domestic violence?
The specific parts of the court system that address domestic violence are as follows:
- family courts, if the act sanctioned for domestic violence does not constitute a crime
- criminal courts, if the act sanctioned for domestic violence constitutes a crime
- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, if the responsibility of the state is sought for acts or situations that violate the Convention
1.4 What are potential causes of action?
The potential causes of action are as follows:
- femicide/parricide (Article 390 of the CP)
- bodily injury in the context of domestic violence (Article 400 of the CP)
- child abuse (Article 403-bis of the CP)
- rape (Article 361 of the CP)
- rape with homicide (Article 372 of the CP)
- sexual harassment (Article 161-C of the CP)
- kidnapping (Article 141 of the CP)
- threat (Article 296 of the CP)
- causing an abortion with violence (Article 343 of the CP)
- abandonment (Article 352 of the CP)
- unauthorized entry to housing (Article 144 of the CP)
- domestic violence not constituting a crime