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Find Lawyers in Chile for Criminal Defense

Practice Area Overview

In Chilean law, some of the most relevant criminal practices are tax or fiscal offenses, fraud, money laundering, bribery and other crimes of public officials, homicides, sexual abuses, and libel and slander.  While many of the offenses are criminalized in the Penal Code (Código Penal ), they are also enshrined in special laws, such as the Tax Code, Stock Market Law, and Customs Ordinance (Código Tributario, Ley de Mercado de Valores y Ordenanza General de Aduanas).

Chilean legislation provides for fines, deprivation of rights, and deprivation of liberty (without death penalty). Generally, those sentences with less than five years of imprisonment may be substituted by alternative penalties. For legal entities, the maximum legal sanction is its dissolution.  

A criminal investigation may be initiated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministerio Público) by a complaint or ex officio. The investigation is directed by the Prosecutor. The Guarantee Judge (Juez de Garantía) is in charge of ensuring the rights of the parties. When there is an established background, the Prosecutor can inform the accused, before the Guarantee Judge, that an investigation is being carried out against the accused (formalización). Only then, precautionary measures (including preventive detentions) could be requested by the Prosecutor and dictated by the Guarantee Judge. There are alternative outlets for the trial, such as conditional suspension of proceedings, reparatory agreements (mainly for property offenses), and abbreviated proceedings. There is no jury. In exceptional circumstances, the judgment can be annulled before the superior courts. 

The accused have a right to a public defender, but they can hire a particular criminal lawyer for the protection of their rights, such as counseling in declarations, negotiation of the sentence, and request for hearings. Regarding the victim, a distinctive feature of Chilean law is that he or she can intervene as a plaintiff, with punitive actions different from those of the Prosecutor, as well as civil actions for damages filed in the criminal proceeding.  

Currently, companies have increasingly required counseling outside of criminal proceedings. In addition to the traditional reputational and economic risks that companies face, criminal penalties of the new Law on Criminal Responsibility of Legal Entities (Ley Responsabilidad Penal de Personas Jurídicas) are added. For that reason, it is relevant to hire criminal lawyers with experience in internal audits and compliance, not only for detecting criminal risks, but also related risks such as in environment and antitrust regulation. Likewise, given increasing globalization and the complexity of conflicts, it is important to have expert advice on transnational and multidisciplinary conflicts, for example, for extradition proceedings, defense of human rights before international courts, and complementary actions before administrative or competition authorities.  
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En el derecho chileno, algunas de las prácticas penales más relevantes son los delitos tributarios o fiscales, fraudes, lavado de dinero, cohecho-soborno y otros delitos de funcionarios públicos, homicidios, abusos sexuales e injurias y calumnias. Si bien gran parte de los delitos están tipificados en el Código Penal, están consagrados también en leyes especiales, tal como Código Tributario, Ley de Mercado de Valores y Ordenanza General de Aduanas. 

La legislación chilena contempla penas patrimoniales, privativas de derechos y privativas de libertad (sin pena de muerte). Generalmente, aquellas menores a 5 años de privación de libertad pueden sustituirse por penas sustitutivas. Para las personas jurídicas la máxima sanción legal es su disolución.

Se puede iniciar una investigación penal por parte del órgano persecutor (Fiscalía) por denuncia, querella o de oficio. La investigación es dirigida por la Fiscalía. El Juez de Garantía es el encargado de velar por los derechos de las partes. Cuando existen antecedentes fundados, la Fiscalía puede comunicar a los imputados, ante el Juez de Garantía, que se sigue una investigación en su contra (formalización) y solicitar medidas cautelares (incluyendo la prisión preventiva), respecto de las cuales decide el órgano judicial. Existen salidas alternativas al juicio oral, como suspensión condicional del procedimiento, acuerdos reparatorios (principalmente para delitos patrimoniales) y procedimiento abreviado. No existen los jurados. Excepcionalmente se puede anular el juicio ante los Tribunales Superiores.  

Los imputados tienen derecho a un defensor público, pero pueden contratar un abogado penalista particular para la protección de sus derechos, tal como asesoría en declaraciones, negociación de la pena y solicitud de diligencias. Respecto a la víctima, un rasgo distintivo del derecho chileno es que ésta puede intervenir como querellante, con pretensiones punitivas diferenciadas a las de la Fiscalía, además de interponer acciones civiles indemnizatorias en el proceso penal.

Actualmente han aumentado las empresas que requieren asesoría fuera del proceso penal. Además de los tradicionales riesgos reputacionales y económicos que enfrentan, se agregan las sanciones penales de la nueva Ley Responsabilidad Penal de Personas Jurídicas, volviéndose relevante contratar a penalistas con experiencia en auditorías internas y compliance, no sólo para riesgos propiamente penales, sino en áreas relacionadas como medio ambiente y libre competencia. Asimismo, dada la creciente globalización y complejidad de los conflictos, resulta relevante contar con asesoría de expertos en conflictos transnacionales y multidisciplinarios, por ejemplo, para procesos de extradición, defensa de derechos humanos ante tribunales internacionales y acciones complementarias en sedes administrativas o de libre competencia.

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