Organic Law 1/2025: Justice Efficiency and Its Criminal Impact in Spain

Organic Law 1/2025, of 2 January, on measures of efficiency of the Public Justice Service, which also regulates adequate dispute resolution means, constitutes the most ambitious reform of the Spanish judicial structure in decades. The Courts of Instance were rolled out during 2025, and the reform directly impacts criminal defence. As criminal lawyers, we summarise the practical keys.

Courts of Instance: a New Judicial Organisation

The reform replaces the current single-judge courts with Courts of Instance, collegiate bodies with specialised sections. Each judicial district will have a single Court of Instance with a Civil Section, an Investigation Section, a Criminal Section, a Violence Against Women Section, a Juvenile Section and a Prison Supervision Section. The rollout took place in three phases according to the type of court: 1 July, 1 October and 31 December 2025 (first transitional provision).

Adequate Dispute Resolution Means

Organic Law 1/2025 generalises alternative dispute resolution (mediation, conciliation) as a procedural requirement in civil and commercial jurisdiction. In criminal matters, its impact is limited but relevant: these means do not apply to criminal matters (Art. 3.2), but the Act regulates restorative justice in a new ninth additional provision of the LECrim, which is voluntary and, if an agreement is reached, allows the judge to close a minor-offence case, dismiss proceedings for private offences or offences where pardon extinguishes liability, channel a plea-agreement judgment or weigh the outcome when deciding on suspension of the sentence; it is expressly excluded where the law so provides, and in cases of violence against women Art. 89.9 LOPJ prohibits alternative dispute resolution means. As to plea agreements, a widespread misunderstanding should be cleared up: the plea in the abbreviated procedure is entered at the preliminary hearing of Art. 785 LECrim (as redrafted by this same Organic Law 1/2025, in force since 3 April 2025) and the Act sets no general ceiling in years — the nine-year figure is the scope of the abbreviated procedure (Art. 757 LECrim). The quantified incentive, the one-third reduction, is the one in Art. 801 LECrim before the duty judge, reserved for offences carrying up to three years' imprisonment.

Investigation Deadlines and Digital Justice

Organic Law 1/2025 maintains the maximum investigation deadlines of Art. 324 LECrim (12 months from the opening of the proceedings, extendable for successive periods of up to six months). In parallel, the digitalisation of justice brings relevant changes: electronic processing (processing, notifications and filings), videoconferencing, which Art. 229.3 LOPJ, as amended by Organic Law 1/2025, allows provided that adversarial participation and the right of defence are secured, and the electronic judicial file accessible from the digital judicial portal. Access to the digital file requires the lawyer to monitor the procedure daily.

Changes to the Criminal Procedure Act

• Art. 776 LECrim: the court clerk informs the injured party of their rights and, if this cannot be done in person, does so by the quickest means available, including electronic ones.
• Art. 785 LECrim: a new preliminary hearing in the abbreviated procedure, where jurisdiction, breaches of fundamental rights, nullity of proceedings or the evidence can be raised, and where a plea agreement can be entered.
• Art. 795 LECrim: the fast-track catalogue now includes unlawful entry into a dwelling (Art. 202 CP) and usurpation (Art. 245 CP).
• Art. 802 LECrim: the fast-track trial follows the trial rules of the abbreviated procedure, but without a preliminary hearing.
• Restorative justice and child victims: new additional provisions of the LECrim regulate restorative justice and give priority processing to proceedings with child victims.

Impact on Defence Strategy

• Early specialisation: knowing the rollout schedule of the Court of Instance in each district allows anticipating which section will investigate.
• Early assessment of the plea agreement: weighing as soon as possible whether to plead and at which procedural stage. The quantified one-third reduction exists only under Art. 801 LECrim, before the duty judge; outside that route, any reduction depends on what is negotiated over the legal classification and the mitigating factors.
• Strategic criminal mediation: in property offences or minor injuries, activating mediation facilitates the mitigating factor of repair (Art. 21.5 CP).
• Digital control of the procedure: implementing systems to monitor the electronic file daily and react within the strict deadlines.
• Videoconferencing as a tool: requesting a statement by video link for clients with difficulty travelling or resident abroad.