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📖 Legal Glossary - Chile

This glossary provides essential legal terminology for interpreting your Emptor reports. Use it whenever you want to learn more about a legal term found in the reports on your dashboard or in the manual review section of one of your candidates.

Criminal Justice Terms

Term	Definition
Criminal	This report searches for records of legal proceedings in different instances of the Chilean criminal justice system.
Acuerdo reparatorio	An agreement between the defendant and the victim approved by the Guarantee Judge. This extinguishes the defendant’s criminal liability once its compliance is ensured.
Acusación	The decision by the Prosecutor’s Office communicated to the Court about the reasons to take the imputed crime to trial with the corresponding penalty.
Cierre de la investigación	An act by which the Public Ministry ceases investigative procedures. After this, the Public Ministry decides whether to present the accusation or dismiss the case.
Diligencias de la investigación	Acts carried out by the Public Ministry to verify the facts that constitute a crime and the participation of its agents.
Extinción de la responsabilidad penal	The cessation of the defendant’s or convict’s obligation to serve the penalty for the crime they may have committed for certain causes; for example, death of the defendant, penalty served, amnesty.
Formalización de la investigación	Informing the defendant that a criminal process is being carried out against them.
Juicio oral	Presentation of the Public Ministry’s accusation and defense of the accused, as well as the evidence that will serve as the basis for the court’s decision on the acquittal or conviction of the accused.
Juzgado	Judicial body responsible for administering justice.
Medida cautelares personales	Restrictive measure of freedom or disposition of the defendant’s assets as long as the legal requirements for its issuance are met with the aim of ensuring the purposes of the criminal process. For example, preventive prison, among others.
Medidas de protección	Form of protection of the victim and her family during the criminal process against probable acts of harassment and/or threats by the accused.
No perseveración del proceso	Specific form of conclusion of the criminal process requested by the Public Ministry due to insufficient evidence to base an accusation.
Prescripción de la acción penal	Cause of extinction of criminal action due to the lapse of time between the commission of the crime and the complaint.
Principio de oportunidad	Faculty that the law grants to prosecutors not to initiate or abandon criminal prosecution, regarding a fact that does not seriously compromise the public interest.
Proceso (penal) abreviado	Type of procedure that applies when the penalty does not exceed 5 years and is approved by the Guarantee Judge. The accused must recognize the facts and the background on which it is based and also express their agreement with this procedure.
Proceso (penal) simplificado	Type of procedure that applies when the Public Ministry requests a prison sentence not exceeding 540 days.
Proceso (penal) ordinario	Regular type of criminal procedure that always applies unless the abbreviated or simplified procedure operates. This process goes through all stages from investigation to oral trial.
Proceso archivado	Form of conclusion of the process without a decision on the merits of the case.

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