Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Procedural Penal Law 1
Other languages of instruction: Catalan
Teaching staff
With the aim to provide the best academic support to the student, the opening ours will be Wednesdays from 12:00 to 14:00, after the lesson, in the office D11-B600 of the 6th floor of the Beta Building in the Barcelona Campus.
Furthermore, the student can always ask for tutoring out of the stablished timetable and in the same location prior appointment through email to the professor of the subject.
Introduction
The subject Derecho Procesal Penal I (Criminal Procedure I) immerses the student in the process through which the State is going to apply the Criminal Law previously studied.
In general terms, this discipline intents to provide the student with the knowledge and abilities needed in order to guarantee a fair hearing and effective legal protection in the near labour future.
In this first part of the subject, the principles that inspire the Criminal Procedure and the Fundamental Rights entangled play a major role not only in the first part of the Criminal Procedure focused on the criminal investigation, but also in the Oral Hearing that we will study in Derecho Procesal Penal II (Criminal Procedure II).
Pre-course requirements
It is advisable to have previously passed the subject Procedural Law 1.
Objectives
Are pursued the following objectives:
(i) To know the structure and functioning of the Spanish criminal justice system and to understand correctly the mechanics of the main criminal procedure institutions. It is intended that students understand the matter perfectly, so that they can face the law, explanations of customers and to assimilate smoothly specialized information.
(ii) Knowing how to handle easily and without help each and every one of the institutions of the declaratory criminal proceedings. At the end of the course, they should be able to write complaints, assist the client -in quality of researched-, make good technical defense during the instruction, and intervene in trials fluently.
(iii) Mastering the legal texts, its details, chinks and peculiarities.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- 03 - To be able to express one's ideas and arguments in an orderly and coherent way both in oral and written form (written and oral techniques)
- 04 - To turn in documents that have been formally and thoroughly prepared to high standards
- 06 - To acquire the ability to make decisions
- 11 - To acquire skills for autonomous learning
- 17 - To understand and have knowledge of public and private institutional principles in their origin and as a whole
- 19 - To develop the ability to write legal texts
- 20 - To have knowledge of the basic aspects of legal argumentation
- 22 - To be able to identify and interpret documentation normally used in legal and negotiating settings
- 23 - To identify the state, doctrinal and legal framework of a complex legal issue
- 24 - To acquire the skills to resolve problems and make decisions using relevant information and by applying correct methods while placing the issue within a legal system context
- 25 - To acquire the skills for legal paperwork processing: composing texts, clarifying a position on a matter, use of forms, etc.
- 26 - To master the techniques and other evidence taking stategies
Learning outcomes of the subject
1. Know and understand the basic concepts of criminal procedural law: the purpose of the criminal proceedings, its structure and the complex web of procedural types.
2. Know, identify and understand the different phases of declaratory criminal proceedings, the evidence and the system resources.
3. There will be acquired skills in oral and written communication.
4. There will be developed skills in resolving legal disputes related to the contents of the module.
5. There will be acquired procedural skills.
6. There will be developed habits of neatness in personal presentation and document.
Syllabus
TOPIC 1. The Criminal Procedure: aims and characteristics. Analogies and differences with the Civil Procedure. Systems and principle of the Criminal Procedure.
TOPIC 2. Principles of the procedure. Constitutional and supranational Rights and Guarantees.
TOPIC 3. The determination of the judge: criminal jurisdiction, recusal and abstention
TOPIC 4. The prosecutors in the Criminal Procedure (I): public prosecutor, private prosecutors and the victim
TOPIC 5. The accused parties in the Criminal Procedure
TOPIC 6. The object of the Criminal Procedure. The preliminary rulings
TOPIC 7. The criminal investigation (I): preliminary phase
TOPIC 8. The criminal investigation (II): development of the investigation: acts of investigation. The European Arrest Warrant
TOPIC 9. The criminal investigation (III): measures that limit the Fundamental Rights
TOPIC 10. Interim or precautionary measures
TOPIC 11. The subjective delimitation of the Criminal action: the act of committal for trial and the criminal charge. The end of the criminal investigation
Teaching and learning activities
In blended
The teaching methodology of the subject will be lectures in which the student will be required to participate through direct questions in order to generate cognitive doubts that guarantee a real knowledge of our subject.
Moreover, the professor will use problem-based learning (PBL) in those topics in which there is a lot of jurisprudence and debate.
Lastly, the professor will bring real cases in the majority of the lectures.
| TRAINING ACTIVITY | COMPETENCES |
|---|---|
| Presentación en el aula de los conceptos y su aplicación práctica | 17 |
| Actividades en el aula para el seguimiento de los alumnos (individual y en grupo) | 03 06 19 20 22 23 24 25 26 |
| Estudio independiente del alumno | 11 17 20 24 |
| Trabajos individuales y en grupo | 04 19 22 23 24 |
Evaluation systems and criteria
In blended
The evaluation system of this subject will be continuous assessment according to the following criteria:
- 2 exams
- Partial exam of 10-15 short questions.
- Final exam of 10-15 short questions.
Both exams represent the 60% of the overall mark of the subject.
Each exam means 30% of the 60% total.
The partial exam will exclude the topics examined from the final exam - notwithstanding those contents directly linked with the topics of the final exam.
The exam will be given an overall score out of 10 and a 5 is required for the topics of the partial exam not to be included in the final exam.
Both exams will be done in the classroom. Consequently, each exam will be done in two different days, one for each half of the classrom.
If a student does not take the partial exam, he/she cannot take the final exam. In that case, the student will have to take the second-call exam with all the topic and the mark regarding the 30% of continuous assessment will be 0.
In each exam, there will be 2 additional questions in which the student is meant to show excellence in his learning. If he/she answers correctly to both questions, he/she can have up to 2 more points.
After each exam, the teacher will review the exam individually in order to point out the learning problems detected. This review can take place in the classroom or making use of the tutoring hours.
- 2 case studies
The case studies will represent the 20% of the overall mark of the subject.
Each case means 10% out of the 20% total.
In one of the cases, the student will be asked to solve the case orally in order to improve his oral abilities and the precision in legal terms.
- Participation and academic implication
With the aim to guarantee a real continuous assessment adequate to the Bologna Plan, the attitude of the student in the classroom will represent a 20% in his overall mark. Needless to say, the comments and interventions must be of special interest for the classroom and the subject.
The mark of every and each of the 3 previous point must be 5 in order to pass the subject.
Second call
Those students who have not passed the continuous assessment can take the second call exam with the particularity that this will only represent 70% of the final mark. The other 30% will come from the mark obtained in the continued assessment that every student must participate in. The structure of the exam will be 10 questions for the topics of the partial exam and 10 more for the final.
Bibliography and resources
The main resource to study this subject is the Criminal Procedure Law (LECRIM) - consider that this has to be updated to the time in which the subject is taught.
Moreover, in order to systematize the content of this law, the following manual are recommended:
ARMENTA DEU, T., Lecciones de Derecho procesal penal, Marcial Pons, Madrid, 12ª edition, 2019.
MONTERO AROCA, J., Derecho Jurisdiccional III Proceso Penal, Tirant lo Blanch, Valencia, 27ª edition, 2019.
To work with the cases, the student will be required to use the legal databases available in the digital library of the University.