Criminal and forensic aspects of injuries resulting from the use of rubber bullets in police contexts

Since the beginning of the social protests in Chile from October 18, 2019, there have been more than 232 people who have suffered severe eye trauma from rubber bullets or pellets, many of them from the actions of law enforcement agents. This analysis focuses on solutions that are in the Chilean Penal Code (hereinafter CP), through the reality and verification that forensic sciences offers, as ways to sanction such conduct considering two fundamental issues: the applicable criminal type and the objective imputation of the harmful result of the conduct. From the analysis carried out, it is believed that the use of these weapons cannot be validated, considering the harmful potential they have, under the pretext of placing it within a category of “anti-riots” with deterrent effects, or worse, the weapons are adequate but the use given to them is intentionally harmful. Under no circumstances would its maintenance be justified, considering that these weapons are capable of causing significant injuries, including deep penetration wounds, especially harmful when aimed to the skull, eyes and thorax. Rubber bullets are potentially lethal and should hence be reclassified since this ammunition should not be considered a safe method of crowd control.