Concept in Definition ABC

There are many ways to miss the I respect to others. One of them is injury, a term that comes from the Latin iniuria and which etymologically means injury or offense. In language colloquial there are synonymous words: insult, affront, slander, vituperation, blasphemy and many others.

Injuring someone means saying something offensive about another person and, therefore, this circumstance is contemplated by the law, which establishes the crime of insults.

Slander, defamation and insult

There are crimes against the honor of persons, since honor is a legal asset protected by the right penal. However, not all crimes against honor are the same. In fact, there are three possible variants: slander, defamation and insult.

Slander is a false accusation, that is, accusing someone of a crime knowing that the accusation is false. Defamation is based on the intention to harm someone in their dignity or reputation, in such a way that a fact is attributed to someone with the purpose of harming him (the peculiarity of the defamation is based on the use of some means of dissemination, for example, the press, radio or social networks).

Injury is similar to slander and refers to the act of belittling or dishonoring someone. In this way, if a woman were said to be a prostitute, she would be undermining her honor and such accusation constitutes a crime. The crime of insults exists for the purpose of protecting the good repute of any person. However, there is an exception to this rule: when the alleged injury is carried out on a public servant and in relation to the exercise of his functions.

This exception is due to the fact that the privacy of the public servant has a public projection when he performs his professional duties. We must not forget that the crime of insults exists to protect individual dignity, but if we are talking about a public employee his honor and dignity as a servant of the state go beyond the individual and have an interest general.

For someone to be punished by law for insults, it is necessary for the offended person to file a complaint to defend her honor against the discredit of the injury. On the other hand, from the point of view of the judge it is necessary to determine that an offense has the intention of morally damaging someone, which in law is known with the expression Latin Animus injuriandi (which could be translated as the intention to injure or the desire to offend).

Injury, defamation or slander is potentially a crime. However, there are those who consider that they should be decriminalized, since they go against the Liberty expression. Those who from the legal perspective maintain that it is reasonable for the law to contemplate the crime of insults affirm that freedom of expression is a right `` but so is the protection of honor and the conflict Between the two rights it should not imply the decriminalization of the crime of insults.

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