Eficientismo jurídico penal vs. derechos y garantías constitucionales en el procedimiento directo.

Abstract

Over time, Criminal Law has been constantly evolving, so much so that two opposing positions or tendencies have emerged, resulting in a firmness in the world of Criminal Law, and in accordance with each criminal policy of each State. These tendencies are criminal legal efficiency and criminal guaranteeism. The first seeks to fight against impunity, regardless of violating rights, principles and guarantees of due process, in other cases, criminal guarantees try to limit the punitive power of the State. In our country, on February 10, 2014, the sanctioning criminal power is regulated by the Comprehensive Criminal Organic Code, which implements a modern criminal legal institution called “Procedimiento directo”. Which is a summary proceeding, which, as expressed in the same norm, concentrates all the stages of an ordinary procedure, in a single hearing, producing a ratifying sentence of innocence or conviction, within a period not exceeding 20 days. The legislator justified that due to the need to speed up the cases held in the courts and tribunals of our country. However, Ecuadorian jurists state that the effects or violations that the application of said procedure can produce to the rights should also have been analyzed. Constitutional rights recognized in our “Carta Magna”, such as: the right to defense, presumption of innocence, parity of arms, contradiction, and in turn, not only affects the prosecuted party, but also the State Attorney General's Office, since, In practice, the results of the investigations and expertise carried out do not arrive on time.