The existence of the right to defense in the processing of expeditious procedures. "Analysis of cases in Cañar City in the first quarter of 2015"

Abstract

Under the quick justice premise, the prevailing policy in Ecuador, with the COIP promulgation, has implemented alternative forms to the ordinary procedure.  The direct procedure, the abbreviated one, and the expeditious object of analysis in the current article are within these different processes. The first two are applicable in the case of crimes, while the last one is applied to contraventions. These procedures arise in order to eradicate a defective and slow criminal justice system that does not respond to the citizens’ expectations.  There are a large number of lagged causes, where there is a waste of resources of the state and a small number of sentences compared to the complaints filed. However, the simple reading of the legal text and legal practice in the Second Unit of Criminal Guarantees in Cañar city in the first three months of 2015, it is seen that the right to defense is violated because the offender does not receive the suitable time for the preparation of the defense. As it is not unknown to anyone, in some cases, the lawyer assumes the defense just before the trial hearing, which undoubtedly generates defenselessness, constituting a clear violation of what is indicated in paragraph b, numeral 7, article 76 in the Constitution of the Republic that says literally “Count on the time and with the adequate means for the preparation of its defense"  which  is clearly undermining the fundamental human right defense that has been a cause of struggles worldwide since the beginnings of humanity. These assertions were confirmed with the use of a descriptive and explanatory research.