Main novelties in the criminal process introduced by Organic Law 1/2025, on the efficiency of the Public Justice Service.

 1.- Amendments to the Organic Law of the Judicial Power

• Introduction of the possibility that the preliminary investigation (or the first instance of any matter of any jurisdictional order) may be carried out by 3 judges and not only by one: new art. 84.6 LOPJ:
  • When the volume, special complexity or number of participants makes it advisable to do so
  • The rapporteur will be the person who was initially assigned to
  • Additional judges are to serve until the case is completed.

• Creation of sections of Violence against Children and Adolescents: new art. 89 bis LOPJ: competence in criminal matters:
  • Instruction of proceedings to demand criminal liability for the offenses included in the Titles of the Criminal Code related to:
    • Homicide, abortion, injury to the fetus, committed against children and adolescents
    • Crimes against freedom, crimes of torture and against moral integrity, crimes against privacy, the right to one’s own image and the inviolability of the home, crimes against sexual freedom and indemnity, crimes against honor, crimes against family relations, or any other crime committed with violence or intimidation, when the victim is a child or adolescent.
    • Crime of trafficking in human beings under Article 177 bis of the Criminal Code when at least one of the victims is a child or adolescent.
    • Offense of violation provided for and punishable under Article 468 of the Criminal Code when the person offended by the crime whose conviction, precautionary measure or security measure has been violated is a child or adolescent.
  • And also:
    • Adoption of the legally provided precautionary measures to ensure the protection of minor victims, without prejudice to the competencies attributed to the judge on duty.
    • Knowledge and adjudication of misdemeanors attributed to them by law when the victim is a child or adolescent.
    • Pass judgment in accordance with the indictment in the cases established by law.
    • Issuance and execution of the instruments of mutual recognition of criminal decisions in the European Union attributed to them by law.

• New Central Trial Court:
  • With 5 sections of instruction, criminal, juvenile, penitentiary surveillance and contentious-administrative.
  • Inconsistency with respect to the Criminal Section or  art. 95.bLOPJ: among others, it is responsible for the “execution of sentences handed down in felony or misdemeanor cases by the Instruction Section of the Central Trial Court itself”:
    • But art. 95.a) does not even contemplate that the Central Preliminary Investigation Section has jurisdiction to pass sentence in cases involving serious or less serious crimes (as does art. 88.1.c to grant the knowledge and ruling of trials for minor crimes to the preliminary investigation sections of the territorial Courts of First Instance).

• Among the functions of the Presidency of the Court of First Instance, art. 168.2.eLOPJ, contemplates that of “promoting the unification of criteria and practices among the different judges, judges, magistrates or magistrates of the Court of First Instance”.
  • How is the independence of each judge guaranteed: Art. 264.4: “In any case, the independence of the judges, magistrates and magistrates for the trial and resolution of the different proceedings before them shall be safeguarded”.

• Substitution regime in arts. 210 to 212 LOPJ.

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 2.- Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law (chapter two of the O.L. 1/2025)

• Art. 266 LECrim: now excludes telematic denunciation in certain cases:
  • “Those facts that have taken place with violence or intimidation, nor if they have a known perpetrator, nor if there are witnesses, nor if the complainant is a minor, nor if they have been committed in fraganti, nor those facts of a violent or sexual nature may not be reported by telematic means.”
• Compliance:
  • Abolition of the 6-year penalty limit
  • Introduction of the hearing to the victim or injured party:

• And a new option for conformity (the third, apart from that contemplated in the qualification procedure and in the preliminary hearing): new art. 787 ter.

• Art. 655.2 LECrim: “The Public Prosecutor’s Office will previously hear the victim or injured party, even if they are not present in the case, whenever possible and deemed necessary to correctly weigh the effects and scope of such conformity, and in any case when the seriousness or transcendence of the act or the intensity or amount are especially significant, as well as in all cases in which victims or injured parties are in a situation of special vulnerability”.

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• And setting limits for new tests: “Article 785. 1. As soon as the proceedings are at the disposal of the competent body for the trial, the judge or court shall summon the prosecutor and the parties to a preliminary hearing in which they may present what they deem appropriate regarding the possibility of conformity of the accused, the competence of the judicial body, the violation of any fundamental right, the existence of articles of pre-judgment, causes for the suspension of the oral trial, nullity of the proceedings, as well as the content, purpose or nullity of the proposed evidence. They may also propose the incorporation of reports, certifications and other documents. They may also propose the taking of evidence of which the parties were not aware at the time they formulated their accusation or defense briefs. .”

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• It is after the preliminary hearing that the judge admits or dismisses the evidence proposed both in the qualification pleadings and in the hearing itself: art. 785.3.: <<The judge or court will examine the evidence proposed and will decide by admitting the evidence he considers pertinent and rejecting the rest, will provide for the necessary for the practice of the anticipated evidence and will decide on the rest of the questions raised orally, unless, due to the complexity of the questions raised, it should be in writing, in which case the order must be issued within a period of ten days. No appeal shall be allowed against the decision adopted, without prejudice to the pertinent protest and that the question may be reproduced, as the case may be, in the appeal against the sentence, unless said decision puts an end to the proceedings, in which case it shall be subject to appeal, within the term and with the formalities provided for in Articles 790 and following.”

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• At the beginning of the oral trial sessions, the possibility of new evidence is expressly limited in new 787.3: <“3.At the beginning of the trial sessions, only the incorporation of reports, certifications and other documents may be requested. The practice of evidence of which the parties had not been aware at the time of the appearance provided for in Article 785 may also be proposed.”

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• Penal execution:
  • New art. 988 bis LECrim: a single proceeding (brief or hearing) to raise and resolve suspension and substitution of sentences and mode of compliance with pecuniary responsibilities.
  • New art. 989LECrim: possibility of provisional execution of the civil liabilities decreed in the first instance and of entrusting the AEAT and/or the Treasury Department with actions of patrimonial investigation.

• Introduction to restorative justice in the criminal field: new Additional Provision 9ª LECrim:
  • Voluntary for the parties.
  • With consequences (if there is agreement between the parties) that can range from the case being closed (if a misdemeanor), dismissal (if a private offense) or conversion to a plea agreement.

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For further information, please contact Alfonso Trallero.