Enforcing a Criminal Judgment in Spain: Finality, Sentence Computation and Incidents

Judgment is not the end of a criminal case. It opens the enforcement file (ejecutoria), a stage with its own rules — Arts. 983 to 998 of the Criminal Procedure Act (LECrim) and Arts. 3, 38, 58 and 80 to 89 of the Criminal Code (CP) — where what matters most is still to be decided: whether the person goes to prison, when the sentence starts to run, and what can be paid, suspended or set off.

You have been convicted and the judgment is final: what happens next

Art. 3.1 CP is categorical: no penalty or security measure may be enforced other than by virtue of a final judgment given by the competent court. Paragraph 2 adds that enforcement takes place under the control of the courts, in the manner prescribed by law and regulations.

A judgment is final, under Art. 141 LECrim, when no ordinary or extraordinary appeal lies against it, apart from review and rehabilitation.

Art. 988 LECrim completes the picture: once a judgment is final under Art. 141, the court that gave it declares it so, and after that declaration enforcement proceeds even if the convicted person is subject to other proceedings. At the other end, Art. 983 requires the immediate release of anyone acquitted, unless an appeal with suspensive effect or other legal grounds make it necessary to postpone release by a reasoned order.

What the enforcement file (ejecutoria) is

Art. 141 LECrim itself, after defining a final judgment, states: «Llámase ejecutoria el documento público y solemne en que se consigna una sentencia firme» (unofficial translation: "The ejecutoria is the public and formal document in which a final judgment is recorded").

In everyday court practice, ejecutoria also refers to the enforcement file opened once the judgment becomes final, before the court that gave it; Art. 988 bis.1 LECrim itself refers to the order that opens the ejecutoria. That file records the sentence computation, suspension, the formal requirements, committal to prison, credits for time already served and any incidents. The penalty itself requires finality, but the civil liability award may be provisionally enforced (Art. 989.1 LECrim).

Which court enforces the judgment

The general rule in Art. 985 LECrim is that enforcement falls to the court that gave the final judgment. Organic Law 1/2025 changed the name, not the rule: the former Criminal Court (Juzgado de lo Penal) is now the Criminal Section of the Court of Instance (Sección de lo Penal del Tribunal de Instancia), the court that groups the former single-judge courts of each judicial district into sections. Two qualifications:

• Art. 986. A judgment given following a cassation ruling of the Second (Criminal) Division of the Supreme Court is enforced by the court that delivered the quashed judgment, on the basis of the certificate sent to it by that Division.
• Art. 987. Where the court in charge cannot itself carry out every step, it applies to the court of the place where they must take effect; that court then reports back on their completion (Art. 997).

Art. 990 adds the internal division of roles: the court clerk (letrado de la Administración de Justicia, the official who directs the court office staff on procedural matters) drives the enforcement process forward, without prejudice to the court's own power to enforce the sentence. The clerk must also notify the victims, injured parties and, where appropriate, witnesses of any decision concerning the convicted person that may affect their safety.

Who enforces each penalty and the typical incidents

Each penalty follows its own track:

Computing the sentence

Sentence computation (liquidación de condena) is the arithmetic that fixes when service starts and ends. It rests on three provisions of the Criminal Code:

• Art. 38 CP. If the convicted person is in custody, the sentence runs from the day the judgment became final. If not, from the day they enter the establishment where it is to be served.
• Art. 58 CP. Time spent in pre-trial detention (prisión provisional) is credited in full, unless it coincided with another deprivation of liberty already credited or creditable in other proceedings. The same period may never be credited twice. Credit in different proceedings is granted by the Prison Supervision Section for the district of the prison, after hearing the Public Prosecutor's Office, and only where the interim measure came after the facts of the case against which it is to be set off.
• Art. 59 CP. Where the interim measures endured and the penalty imposed are of a different nature, the penalty is treated as served in the part the court considers set off.

Since 3 April 2025 the procedure has been governed by Art. 988 bis.4 LECrim, added by Organic Law 1/2025. The computation is carried out by the court clerk and must state the date on which service begins, the time to be credited for provisional deprivation of liberty in the case or for any other interim measure, the length of the sentence and the time to be served. It is calculated in years, months and days: full months count as thirty days and full years as three hundred and sixty-five. It is served on the convicted person in person and passed to the Public Prosecutor's Office and the parties, who may challenge it within two days. If nobody challenges it, the court clerk approves it by decree (decreto); if it is challenged, the judge or court rules by order (auto).

Reviewing the computation is not a minor step: a miscalculated credit moves every later date, including classification and prison leave. Those milestones can be located with the sentence milestones calculator, and the fractions of the sentence that open each stage are explained in the guide to calculating a sentence by quarters.

Suspension of enforcement (Arts. 80-87 CP)

This is the decision that weighs most. Art. 80.1 CP allows the enforcement of custodial sentences of no more than two years to be suspended where it is reasonable to expect that enforcement is not necessary to prevent the commission of further offences, weighing the circumstances of the offence and of the person, their record, their conduct afterwards and in particular their effort to repair the harm caused.

The conditions in Art. 80.2 are three: that the person is a first offender (disregarding convictions for negligent or minor offences (unless they form part of an aggravated multi-recidivism offence), records that have been or should have been expunged under Art. 136, and records irrelevant to the prognosis); that the sentence or the sum of those imposed does not exceed two years, excluding any sentence arising from non-payment of a fine; and that civil liability has been satisfied and any confiscation given effect, a requirement treated as met where a payment undertaking matching the person's means is given.

There are three further routes: the exceptional one in Art. 80.3 for sentences that individually do not exceed two years even where conditions 1 and 2 are missing, provided the person is not a habitual offender and always conditional on repairing the harm and on a fine or community service; that of Art. 80.4 for a person suffering from a very serious illness with incurable suffering, subject to no requirement at all unless another penalty had already been suspended on the same ground when the offence was committed; and that of Art. 80.5 for sentences of up to five years where the offence was committed because of dependence on the substances listed in Art. 20.2 and rehabilitation or ongoing treatment is certified.

The suspension period runs from two to five years, and from three months to one year for minor penalties (Art. 81 CP); in drug-dependence cases, from three to five years. Art. 82 requires the court to rule in the judgment itself whenever possible and, failing that, to do so as a matter of urgency after finality and after hearing the parties; the period runs from the decision granting it or, where suspension was granted in the judgment, from the date the judgment became final, and does not run while the person is in default.

Suspension may be made conditional on the prohibitions and duties of Art. 83 and on the measures of Art. 84 (compliance with a mediation agreement, a fine or community service), and is revoked in the cases listed in Art. 86. Once the period has passed without further offending and the conduct rules have been met, the sentence is remitted (Art. 87). The fit can be checked with the suspended sentence checker and explored further in the article on its requirements and in the one on revocation.

Substitution: what is left of Art. 88 CP

This is worth stating plainly, because outdated information circulates: Art. 88 CP has been repealed. The old substitution of a prison sentence by a fine or community service no longer exists as a separate institution; its function was absorbed by the measures of Art. 84 within suspension. Outside this chapter, the mandatory substitution of Art. 71.2 CP remains: a prison term of less than three months resulting from the sentencing rules is always replaced by a fine, community service or permanent localisation (localización permanente, an order to remain at home or at another place set by the court).

The only substitution left in the chapter is that of Art. 89 CP: prison sentences of more than one year imposed on a foreign national are substituted by expulsion from Spanish territory, with partial enforcement possible where necessary to uphold the legal order. Where the sentence exceeds five years, Art. 89.2 requires all or part of it to be served before expulsion. Paragraph 3 repeats the scheme of Art. 82: rule in the judgment if possible and, failing that, after finality, having heard the prosecutor and the other parties. Paragraph 9 excludes expulsion for the offences of Arts. 177 bis, 312, 313 and 318 bis, and paragraph 4 rules it out where, in view of the circumstances of the offence and of the offender, in particular their ties to Spain, expulsion would be disproportionate, and sets special rules for EU citizens.

Committal to prison and formal requirements

Where suspension is ruled out, Art. 990 LECrim requires the enforcing court to take without delay the measures needed for the convicted person to enter the prison establishment, calling on administrative authorities for assistance.

Alongside committal, the formal requirements (requerimientos) flowing from the judgment are served: payment of the fine and of civil liability, delivery of items and, where a driving ban was imposed, immediate withdrawal of the licence and an order to the central traffic authority (Jefatura Central de Tráfico) not to issue another until the sentence is spent (Art. 794.2 LECrim).

Incidents of the enforcement file

• Maximum term to be served. Where a person has been convicted in separate proceedings for facts that could have been tried together, the third paragraph of Art. 988 LECrim requires the court that gave the last judgment to fix the maximum term under Art. 76 CP, of its own motion or on application by the prosecutor or the convicted person, obtaining the criminal record sheet and copies of the judgments. Cassation for infringement of law lies against that order. It is developed in the article on accumulation of sentences; how it differs from merging sentences (refundición) is explained in the guide to sentence merger and accumulation.
• Civil liability. Art. 989 LECrim refers to the Civil Procedure Act for whatever criminal law does not regulate, and allows the tax administration to be tasked with the asset investigation needed until what the judgment awarded is paid. Where the judgment did not fix the amount, Art. 794.1 LECrim allows evidence to be taken at the enforcement stage to determine it; the order fixing it, given by the Criminal Section, may be appealed to the Provincial Court (Audiencia Provincial).
• Third-party claims. Claims of ownership or of better title are dealt with under the Civil Procedure Act (Art. 996 LECrim).

How long it takes to enforce a sentence

The law sets no overall time limit, only milestones:

• Up to finality. If no appeal is lodged, the judgment becomes final when the time limit expires: ten days to appeal a judgment of the Criminal Section (Art. 790.1 LECrim) and five days in minor offence (delito leve) proceedings (Art. 976.1). With a plea agreement (conformidad), if no party intends to appeal, the judge declares the judgment final orally at the same hearing and rules on suspension (Arts. 787 ter.6 and 801.2).
• After finality. If suspension was not decided in the judgment, the court must rule on it as a matter of urgency (Art. 82.1 CP), and committal must be ordered without delay (Art. 990 LECrim).
• During the enforcement file. For justified cause, the court may allow the fine to be paid up to two years after finality (Art. 50.6 CP) and, if a pardon is sought, the Government has one year to decide (Art. 6.1 of Royal Decree 1879/1994).

And a penalty that is not enforced in time becomes time-barred.

Pardons at the enforcement stage

A pardon (indulto) is an act of clemency granted by the Government. It requires a final judgment and that the convicted person be at the disposal of the sentencing court (Art. 2 of the Pardon Act of 18 June 1870). Applying for one does not halt the enforcement file: «La solicitud o propuesta de indulto no suspenderá el cumplimiento de la sentencia ejecutoria» (unofficial translation: "An application or proposal for a pardon shall not suspend the enforcement of the final judgment", Art. 32). The exception is Art. 4.4 CP: the court must suspend enforcement if it finds, in a reasoned decision, that serving the sentence could infringe the right to proceedings without undue delay, and may suspend it if the purpose of the pardon could otherwise be rendered illusory. It is advisable to request that suspension together with the application. The procedure is explained in how to request a pardon.

If the sentence is not enforced: limitation of the penalty

Penalties imposed by a final judgment are also subject to a limitation period (prescripción de la pena): once it expires, the penalty can no longer be enforced. The periods in Art. 133 CP depend on the penalty and run from the date of the final judgment or from the breach of a sentence that had already begun to be served (Art. 134.1); they are suspended while enforcement is suspended and while other penalties are being served in the cases of Art. 75 (Art. 134.2). The periods are set out in the article on the limitation period for penalties. Once the penalty is extinguished, the periods of Art. 136 CP for clearing the criminal record begin to run; if the penalty was suspended, once remission is final the period is backdated to the day after the penalty would have been served, counting its length from the day after suspension was granted (Art. 136.2 CP).

What to do (and what not to do) during the enforcement file

• The declaration of finality and its date. The start of the computation under Art. 38 CP and the enforcement deadlines depend on it.
• The deadlines in Art. 988 bis LECrim. Once the order opening the ejecutoria has been served, the defence has ten days to set out in a single filing, with the reports or documents on which it relies, the form of suspension it seeks where the judgment did not rule on it, how the financial liabilities are to be met and any deferral of payment, and any other request concerning enforcement, including substitution of the penalty where applicable. The judge or court may replace that procedure with a hearing (Art. 988 bis.3). Once the sentence computation has been served, it can be challenged only within two days.
• The computation and the credit. Check every period of pre-trial detention, make sure none was already credited elsewhere, and weigh the set-off of Art. 59 CP.
• Suspension, before committal. Document payment of civil liability, or the undertaking to pay it, and the personal circumstances weighed under Art. 80.1.
• What not to do. Ignoring the formal requirements, or assuming that applying for a pardon halts committal: only a suspension ordered by the court does that.

If you have a criminal judgment about to become final or already being enforced, it is worth reviewing the computation and the prospects of a suspended sentence before the formal requirements are served. You can call us on +34 91 078 65 74 for an initial assessment of your case.