The 4 differences between acquittal and dismissal

Two concepts related to judicial proceedings that are sometimes confused.

The judiciary is one of the three main powers emanating from the state, which is considered impartial and is dedicated to dispensing justice according to the law.It is considered impartial and is dedicated to imparting justice in accordance with the law. There are, of course, many judicial processes, but nevertheless, it is not always possible to reach a verdict. Sometimes it is necessary to terminate or paralyze the proceedings.

In this sense, it is more than likely that on some occasion you have heard of a case that has been dismissed or archived. These concepts can be confusing if we do not know what they refer to, and we may even think that they are two words to express the same thing. However, this is not the case.

What are they and what are the main differences between dismissal and archiving? We are going to see it throughout this article, based mainly on the Criminal Procedure Law.

Dismissal: basic concept

It receives the name of dismissal that situation in which it is determined the termination or paralyzation of the judicial process, either provisionally or definitively, generally due to the absence of evidence.It is generally due to the absence of sufficient evidence or indications for its continuation. It is an atypical way of ending a criminal proceeding since a sentence is not issued and no decision or ruling is reached.

This does not imply that the case is closed forever or that the investigation ceases, but rather that the criminal proceeding is paralyzed.Rather, the criminal process is paralyzed since there are no elements that allow it to act on the case.

It should be noted that there is not only one type of dismissal, but there are at least two main types: free dismissal and provisional dismissal, total dismissal and partial dismissal.

The free dismissal of a case implies that the process is paralyzed indefinitely, and is carried out in all those cases in which there are no indications or rational suspicions that the facts that give rise to the judicial process have occurred. In other words, when there is no evidence and indications that allow to awaken the interest of prosecution of the judged fact. Also when what is being judged does not constitute a crime, that is, when what happened in the case is not included and punished in the country's Penal Code.

A third possibility for a case to be dismissed is when the following occurs when the accused or investigated have no responsibility for the event being tried and are innocent or cannot be punished..

Regarding the provisional dismissal, this is a type of provisional paralyzation of the process that is carried out when the crime or case refers to events in which the commission of the crime has not been justified and proven but nevertheless there are reasonable and plausible indications of it, or when despite the certainty of the crime the evidence against the accused is not powerful enough to be able to identify its author despite the existence of suspicions and indications in this regard.

In addition to this, when an act is tried with more than one accused personThe dismissal may be total or partial, regardless of which of the two types of dismissal it belongs to. The total would imply that the dismissal would affect all those involved, while the partial would refer to the fact that part of the defendants have had their case dismissed but others continue the judicial process.

The dismissal implies that the case and the evidence are classified and archived, but in the event that relevant evidence and indications appear that were not taken into account at the first stage of the process and the court (whether the same or another) considers it pertinent, it is possible to reopen the case.

Archiving a court case: what is it?

Regarding the filing of a case, on this occasion this term refers to the physical and material act or activity through which the following is done classifying, documenting and storing all the evidence, proofs or actions carried out during or related to the completion of a judicial process..

In other words, we are dealing with an effect or consequence of the termination of the procedure in which everything that happened is put in writing and detailed, both at the level of evidence and indications as well as the procedures carried out, in such a way that an order of the case is formed and kept in a file.

Main differences between dismissal and filing

As we have seen, dismissal and filing are closely related and in fact refer to and are found in the case file. and in fact they refer to and are linked to the same situation: the termination of the processing of a criminal proceeding, albeit temporarily.

However, this does not imply that they are exactly the same, but it is possible to find some differences between the two concepts. Among them, the following stand out.

1. Decision and action

The first and most obvious difference between dismissal and closing a case is that they do not refer to the same concept or reality.

The dismissal is the decision or the fact of paralyzing the process, while filing the case literally implies a direct action in which the set of actions and elements linked to the judged fact are classified and put in safekeeping in order to comply with the cessation or stoppage of the process and to carry out such termination..

2. Cause and consequence

Another possible difference lies in the fact that one is actually a consequence of the other. one is a consequence of the other. Specifically, the case file is carried out as a consequence of the dismissal order issued by the judge, which is the cause of the first one.

3. They do not necessarily go hand in hand

Dismissal and closing the case make it clear that they do not necessarily have to be the same thing if we take into account that although the dismissal does result in the closing of the case, there are other possible resolutions that result in the closing of the case without the case being dismissed. without necessarily resulting in the dismissal of the case.

4. One modifies the other

The fact that a case is dismissed means that the case is archived. However, if new evidence comes to light, a case that has been provisionally dismissed may be reopened. In this case, the case is no longer archived.

However, for this it will always be necessary for the dismissal to be lifted and not the other way around.

Bibliographical references:

• "Auto de la Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona of January 15, 2015, FJ 3º" (PDF). Judiciary of Spain. January 15, 2015.