Criminal Lawyers in Reckless Injuries

Reckless injuries are the negligent modality of the injuries offence, regulated in Art. 152 of the Spanish Criminal Code. They punish damage to physical integrity caused without intent, by breach of an objective duty of care: negligence, lack of skill or foresight. The protected legal interest is physical integrity and health, as in intentional injuries, but the criminal response is calibrated radically by the different subjective intensity of the author. Supreme Court case-law has consolidated a three-tier system: serious recklessness (absence of the most elementary precaution, equivalent to the old "temerarious recklessness"), less-serious recklessness (relevant breach of the duty of care without reaching the prior gravity), and minor recklessness (decriminalised by LO 1/2015 and channelled exclusively through civil proceedings).

Forms (Art. 152 CP)

Art. 152 CP sets out several modalities by gravity of the resulting injury. If serious recklessness causes an injury of Art. 147.1 (requiring medical treatment), the penalty is prison; if it causes serious injuries of Art. 149 (loss of a principal organ, sense or serious deformity), the penalty rises; if it causes injuries of Art. 150 (non-principal organ or simple deformity), the penalty is intermediate. Less-serious recklessness (Art. 152.2) is punished with a fine and requires prior complaint from the victim within one year. Typical scenarios include traffic accidents with criminal alcohol rate or qualified speeding, medical malpractice contrary to lex artis, workplace accidents due to breach of safety measures (Arts. 316-318 CP in concurrence) and injuries by potentially dangerous animals (PPP) without regulatory measures.

Penalties (Art. 152 CP)

Penalties are lower than for intentional injuries but, in serious recklessness, fully custodial. Serious recklessness causing Art. 147.1 injuries carries 3 to 6 months' prison or fine of 6 to 18 months; if it causes Art. 150 injuries, prison from 3 months to 1 year or fine; if it causes Art. 149 injuries, prison from 1 to 3 years. When committed with a motor vehicle, it adds licence suspension of 1 to 4 years; with a firearm, suspension of the right to bear arms. Professional recklessness adds disqualification from practising the profession, trade or position for 1 to 4 years (Art. 152.1 in fine), a particularly serious consequence for doctors, architects, professional drivers or healthcare staff. Civil liability is quantified under the scale of Law 35/2015, also binding for non-traffic recklessness under consolidated case-law.

Defence Strategy

Technical defence rests on four recurring axes. First, the downgrade from serious to less-serious recklessness: case-law modulates classification by the intensity of the breach of duty of care; expert evidence that there was no "absence of the most elementary precaution" usually drops the penalty from prison to fine, avoiding serious records. Second, contributory negligence (Arts. 1.2 and 7.2 LRCSCVM and consolidated case-law in workplace accidents): where the victim contributed to the harmful result (pedestrian breaking in, worker without PPE, cyclist without lights), the author's recklessness is relativised and the penalty may be downgraded. Third, the challenge to the causal link: if the harmful result stems from an external or supervening cause (defective medical care, unknown pre-existing disease), objective imputation breaks. Fourth, reconstructive expert defence: accident reconstruction experts, medical experts to verify lex artis, occupational risk-prevention experts.

Current Forensic Practice

In current forensic practice we see a sharp rise in proceedings for e-scooter (PMV) accidents in collisions with pedestrians, for medical malpractice after the pandemic and for workplace accidents on construction sites and digital delivery platforms. Organic Law 1/2026 on Multi-recidivism and the consolidated case-law on the duty of care in permitted-risk activities have stiffened the judicial response. At Alonso Sala, our criminal lawyers in reckless injuries intervene from the first procedural step to articulate reconstructive or medical expert evidence, challenge the police report, manage reparation mitigating factors through early consignment and, where appropriate, route the matter to civil proceedings only. We handle each file with the diligence required in a field where a wrong classification can wreck a professional career through accessory disqualification.