Five years after it came into force, the fast trial law is losing speed in the Malaga courts. The problem lies in the ever growing backlog of work that is preventing the courts from hearing cases for minor offences (those with penalties of no more than five years) as quickly as the legal reform established in 2003. In practice the fast trials are not so fast and the two week limit has stretched out to three months. In fact the majority of courts are setting dates in February for hearings regarding offences committed at the beginning of November. Some judges have even pointed out the paradox that a case where the suspect is being held in prison (trials that are always given priority) could be heard later through the fast track system than through the ordinary system.

“The reform has failed. They need to spend more money on creating new courts and expanding the workforce”, says one judge who believes that Malaga needs at least five extra courts, either in the city or in towns such as Marbella to deal with cases that would normally be sent to Malaga. The judge also referred to the time that lapses between a judge delivering a sentence and this sentence actually being carried out. He added that there were 1,500 cases in this situation waiting to be dealt with in his court alone. “Despite the reinforcements we have received we don’t have enough staff to deal with the paperwork and we are all suffering the ‘Mari Luz case’ syndrome”, he added.

“Every day set aside for fast trials we hear between 12 and 14 cases; there’s no time for more”, explained another magistrate, who stressed that the more serious traffic offence cases that are now heard in criminal courts are the main cause of the backlog. “It’s incredible. How can there be so many people driving without having ever passed their test? Not to mention those who drive under the influence of alcohol...”

The Malaga judges have gone so far as to describe the situation as “chaotic” and “unsustainable”. and have called for structural solutions several times this year. The problem is easily explained: their workload has doubled in just two years.