dolosos

Dolosos is a term used in several Romance-language legal traditions to describe acts committed with an intentional mental state or knowledge of wrongdoing. In common usage, doloso refers to crimes or conduct carried out with purpose or awareness of illegality, as opposed to culposo, which denotes negligent or careless behavior. The word derives from Latin dolus, meaning deceit, fraud, or trickery.

In many civil law systems, crimes are classified as doloso when the offender intends a particular result or acts with awareness that the result is almost certain to occur. This can be further subdivided in some jurisdictions into direct dolo (intent to bring about the result) and dolo eventual (reckless acceptance of the risk that the result will occur). The precise definitions and thresholds for doloso vary by country and code.

Typical examples of doloso conduct include intentional homicide, fraud, embezzlement, and theft with a deliberate purpose to obtain unlawful gain. By contrast, negligent homicide or other forms of accidental harm would generally be categorized as culposo, meaning they arise from carelessness or imprudence rather than deliberate intent.

The concept of doloso is closely related to the broader legal notion of mens rea, or guilty mind, though the specific terms and criteria differ across jurisdictions. In practice, determining whether a crime is doloso affects the level of criminal liability, potential penalties, and the burden of proof required in prosecution.

See also: mens rea, culpa (negligence), dolo (intent in legal theory).