The abbreviated process as mechanism to solve criminal matters and its impact regarding economic crimes

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the impact of our abbreviated process (as a type of plea bargaining) as a mechanism to solve criminal conflicts in connection to economic crimes. In order to do this, we analyze the authority of the State Prosecutor’s Office in the prosecution of economic crimes and the regulation of the abbreviated process under the Code of Criminal Procedure enacted by means of Law No. 19.293 and subsequent amendments. In November 2017, this Code established for the first time in our country the adversarial criminal system of justice. Use of the abbreviated process as a means to solve criminal conflicts has been trenchantly criticized by certain scholars who argue that the defendant lacks guarantees. Nonetheless, we shall hereby analyze the arguments which lead us to believe that the abbreviated procedure within the frame of an adversarial criminal system needs to be defended, albeit the problems it raises.