De fisuras que tornan grietas en la prevención democrática de los delitos(cuatro ejemplos al tiempo de la creación —recorte de la acusación popular—, aplicación —dilaciones indebidas y conformidades— y ejecución —abuso del tercer grado— del derecho penal en España)

Resumen

In their article, the authors highlight a profound crisis in the Spanish democratic system of criminal justice, which shows little prospect of a solution or even mitigation. A notoriously inadequate criminal legislation and unwise case law account for the origin of this deterioration, exemplified by the authors in four phenomena. First, undue delay in proceedings, derived from an intolerably slow case resolution by the courts, caused in turn by the Executive’s lack of concern regarding Justice. Second, the phenomenon of conformity sentencing, which has lead to an often intolerable commercialisation in both conduct sanctioning and the application of penalties. Third, the so-called «penitentiary pardon», which has placed the enforcement of judgments in the hands of the Prison Administration, in disregard of general prevention aims and in defiance of court rulings, as shown in the Basque and Catalan governments» performance. Finally, the progressive deprivation of citizen’s constitutional rights, especially as regards for popular prosecution.