Abstract
There are many countries in Latin America whose criminal justice systems are structured in such a way that does not allow a jurisdictional trial in a significant number of criminal cases. In these systems, prevail a set of early or alternative procedures, in which the accused and the victim have little or any participation at all, of, or do not meet in disregard of the characteristics and standards of a contradictory process Despite dismissing the right to a prior proceeding, the State must ensure that those early or alternative departures meet the standards of due process, thus observing those cases in which relevant legal principles could be affected – equality of arms, the right to be heard, the right to present evidence and the right not to testify against oneself. By neglecting these rights, the State fails to fulfill its duty to guarantee the constitutional right to effective judicial protection.
Criminal trial; alternative departures; due process; effective judicial protection