Judiciary of Chile

There are seventeen Courts of Appeal in Chile, each of them integrated by a variable number of judges, between four and thirty one, called "Ministers" (Ministros), one of them is the President of the Court.

These collegiate courts usually operate in chambers of at least three judges, exceptionally may operate as a plenary with the presence of the absolute majority of the members of the court.

The Courts of Appeal are the hierarchical superiors to the Courts of Letters, the Courts of Guarantee, the Oral Criminal Tribunals, Family Courts, Labour Courts, Labour Courts of Collection, and Local Police Courts.

They hold almost all the second instance competence, besides knowing well in the first instance or single instance of other matters that the laws entrusted to them.

Each Minister of a Court of Appeal is a Court himself, knowing in the first instance of certain affairs that the laws entrusted to them.

Even though the law has given all of the competence in the first instance to the Judges of Letters, a Minister of Appeal will try should certain exceptional circumstances are fulfilled, regarding the nature of the issue or the quality or state of the individuals involved.

The Prosecution, or Public Ministry, is an autonomous public organism, whose function is to direct the investigation of the crimes, take the offenders to the Courts, if applicable, and to offer protection to victims and witnesses.

The Prosecution is not a part of any of the other branches of the government, it's not part of the Congress, the Executive Branch or the Judiciary.

The institution is organized in 18 Regional Prosecutions, each one of them directed by a regional prosecutor and a directive team. The operative units of the 18 Regional Prosecutions are the 150 Local Prosecutions which are distributed throughout the country according to population density. Such units are composed by deputy prosecutors, assistant prosecutors and other professionals, such as psychologists, caseworkers, administrative personnel and technicians.

The criminal system is directed by the prosecutors, who are in charge of the investigation of crimes, directing the labor of the police forces.

While the Prosecution is in exclusive charge of the functions of investigation and accusation, the guarantee judges have the exclusive task of judging, they have no power to investigate crimes, only to try them.

During the investigative phase, a Guarantee Judge takes charge of the protection of the rights of the people involved in the case, specially the guarantee of the accused, as well as resolving the conflicts that arise between the different parts during this stage. Several proceedings of the Prosecution need previous approval by the Guarantee Court.

Once enough proof is gathered, the Prosecution will decide whether to indict the accused or file the case.

For most minor offenses and some simple crimes for which the prosecutor in the Attorney General sought the imposition of a penalty of up to 540 days of imprisonment, the case is judged by the Guarantee Judge in a summary trial.

Criminal Courts are integrated by three professional judges, who hear the cases exposed by the Prosecutor and the Defense of the accused, then deciding and establishing the guilt or innocence of the accused. Such scheme aims to provide the highest impartiality level of the Courts. There's no appeal nor second - instance revision of the sentences dictated by an Oral Criminal Court, the only remedy is its annulment by a Court of Appeals, which is uncommon.

The Family Judicial System has competence over matters related to custody of children, visiting arrangements of the children, alimony, maintenance or spousal support; parental rights, authorization to take the children out of the country, adoption, protective measures for children and teenagers, criminal offenses committed by minors exempt of criminal responsibility; fatherhood, divorce, marriage annulment, domestic violence, separation of assets, interdictions and any other issue arising from personal family relations.

There's a system of specialized professional courts exclusively dedicated to take charge of family conflicts in an integral and multidisciplinary approach, counting with the permanent assessment of psychologists and caseworkers specialized on family issues.

The procedures are totally oral, transparent and immediate, therefore, the judge and all the parts of the trial must be present in all audiences and the actuations must be done without the intervention of intermediaries.

The trial consists of, basically, two audiences: the first is called "Preparatory", if the parts don't come to a pacific agreement in such instance, the demand is submitted to the ratification of the demanding part, then the counterpart is given its chance to answer to it. By the end of the audience, the judge will decide about the relief measures and, if it is possible, will offer the parts a chance of mediation of conciliation. The judge will also set the object of the trial, the facts that will be object of proof, the admissible means of evidence and, finally, will set the date of the Audience of Trial.

In the Audience of Trial, the parts will exhibit its evidence to the judge, such as witnesses, confessions, documents, medical records, and all other non regulated evidence. At the end of the audience, the judge will dictate an oral sentence, which can be written immediately or in a period of five days.

They seek agreements between the parts involved, the so-called "cooperative agreements", through compromises, conciliation and, specially, mediation, is a very important goal of the system, so a National System of Mediation was established for such purpose. The primary goal of this system is to reduce the emotional costs of the conflict and obtain a personal and voluntary compromise of those involved, in order to reach a sustainable and amicable relation for the future.