Criminal procedure duration simulator

It depends on the type of proceeding: a fast-track trial is resolved in days or weeks; a minor-offence trial in 2 to 6 months from the complaint; an abbreviated proceeding 1.5 to 3 years; and a sumario for the most serious offences, or a jury trial, 2 to 4 years or more. These are indicative ranges, not statutory deadlines.

Article 324 LECrim sets a maximum period of twelve months from the opening of the case. If before it expires it becomes clear that the investigation cannot be completed, the judge may grant successive extensions of six months or less, by a reasoned order setting out the causes and the steps still required.

In complex cases, the investigation. But the intermediate stage — the prosecution and defence pleadings and the transfer of the file to the trial court — can take, as an indication, three to twelve months without any new investigative step, even though the statutory time limits for those pleadings are counted in days, and a further six to twelve months may pass between admission of the pleadings and the hearing date.

It usually speeds up the hearing date: the law requires the defendant’s custody to be taken into account when trial dates are set (arts. 659 and 786.2 LECrim). In addition, article 528 LECrim requires every authority involved in the proceedings to keep pre-trial custody as short as possible, and article 504.2 LECrim caps it at one year where the offence carries a penalty of three years or less, or two years where it is higher, with a single extension. Those caps put pressure on the court’s schedule, but they do not by themselves shorten the investigation.

Yes: the workload of the particular court affects waiting times, above all for the hearing date. This simulator does not adjust any figure by province: it holds no caseload data by judicial district and does not invent any.

Article 21.6 CP treats extraordinary and undue delay in the processing of the case as a mitigating circumstance, provided it is not attributable to the accused and is out of proportion to the complexity of the case. Where the delay is especially serious it can be treated as highly qualified and reduce the sentence by one or two degrees.

Within limits. A guilty plea allows the case to be resolved without trial — in a fast-track trial, before the duty judge itself and with a one-third reduction if the requirements of art. 801 LECrim are met — and a diligent defence avoids the adjournments and nullities that lengthen proceedings. Monitoring the art. 324 LECrim period — opposing unjustified extensions and asking, once it expires, for the decision that closes the investigation — also confines it.

No. It is an indicative estimate built on usual ranges, not on statutory deadlines or on official statistics for the court handling your case. The real duration depends on the number of defendants, the expert evidence outstanding, any letters rogatory and the court’s schedule.