Meaning of Criminal lawyer
The criminal lawyer is the specialist in the area of law who is in charge of solving cases related to crimes established in the Spanish criminal code. Among these are murder, punishable insolvency, kidnapping, tax fraud, extortion, scams, robberies, money laundering, and those of a computer nature or that attempt against public health , among others. Lawyers specialized in criminal law have as one of their main functions the defense of those individuals accused of committing crimes and who are facing a judicial process.
A criminal law lawyer is a professional dedicated exclusively to the criminal area of law, that is, everything related to the crimes established in the criminal code and their respective judicial processes for their resolution.
From the etymological point of view, the word lawyer comes from the Latin advocatus, which in turn derives from the phrase “ad auxilium vocatus” which is literally translated as “ the call to help ”. While the term penal has its origin also in Latin and comes from poenalis, which indicates something related to a fine or that is deserving of a fine .
The history of criminal law and therefore the criminal lawyer begins in primitive societies in what is known as the prescientific stage, with what is known as the Talion law , with its characteristic message of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth", with the intention to limit the crimes committed at the time that were known as "damages", basically it imposed that a person could not be killed for revenge if he only hurt a part of the body of another, for example a hand, the punishment it must be equivalent to the damage caused .
During this time they also applied what is known as composition, which was nothing more than establishing a material cost for the damages committed , it could be in money or in kind. In other cultures such as China, India, ancient Egypt, Babylon, among others, they applied divine revenge , which consisted in the death of the aggressor based on the severity of the damage caused, in order to appease the gods.
In the specific case of European law in the middle of the Middle Ages, the currents of canonical, Germanic and Roman law , with a predominance of the latter, were used in judicial processes.
Later, the scientific stage begins , which is responsible for giving a less cruel and more socio-political approach to judicial laws. At this time, rights such as the principle of equality, respect for possible innocence and just defense are initiated .
In the particular case of Spain, it officially originated in the eighteenth century, the initial proposals in relation to the characteristics and form of application of criminal laws were made by enlightened people of the time such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu , among others.
Among the main schools that determined the direction in relation to Spanish law, are the classical and the positivist, the first considered that the law corresponded to something transcendent , much older to humanity and therefore should be considered the natural part at the time to exercise it, while the positivist had a multidisciplinary approach that established that they should rely on other sciences such as sociology, psychology and anthropology when making judgments.
Functions of a criminal lawyer
A criminal defense lawyer has the function of defending (worth the redundancy) of a citizen before a judicial process , which has been accused of crimes established in the criminal code, unlike other sciences, this is not unidirectional or absolute, it consists of a series of processes during which evidence and allegations are presented in order to establish the guilt or not of the accused.
The main difference between this type of law and others, such as civil law, is the fact that the latter seeks to negotiate and establish agreements for the resolution of specific problems, while the criminal has the ultimate goal of achieving balance and justice. social in general.
Cases that require a criminal lawyer
The most common cases are those in which the crimes committed are found in the criminal code along with possible sanctions according to severity, they can range from murder, through fraud and extortion, to robbery. Within criminal law there are several branches such as penitentiary, administrative, military, international, criminal, corporate, disciplinary, economic, procedural law, etc. Some examples of the type of economic criminal law are described below .
- Money laundering : also known as money laundering, it consists of establishing fraudulent or fictitious negotiations or commercializationto make the money obtained illegally or illicitly circulate freely as if it had been obtained legally.
- Tax fraud : refers to tax evasion by individuals or companies.
- Punishable insolvency : an economic crime that consists of taking any action with the intention of consciously omitting the payment of an acquired debt .
Characteristics of a criminal lawyer
During their training, they obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to fully understand and face the criminal justice system . The profile of a criminal lawyer consists of the following:
- Ability to argue in a logical and timely manner.
- Have knowledge and skills to negotiate .
- Be prepared not to win all the time and have the persistence to appeal.
- Possess qualities such as charisma and empathy .
- Have the ability to convince and persuade.
It develops in trials either as part of the defense of an accused citizen or as the accuser, in both cases it must be able to establish a strategy that allows legally to demonstrate its point of view and achieve the intended objective.
Regarding earnings, in the particular case of Spain, these range between 3,000 and 6,000 euros per month after 4 years of exercise, reaching more than 10,000 euros per month after reaching 10 years in employment.
The criminal lawyer price will depend directly on the office for which he works, in the same way the earnings of the same will depend on whether he works in the public area reaching a total of approximately 55,200 euros per year and if he works for a private company the average is of 41,000 euros per year .
How to be a criminal lawyer
To become an expert in the area, it is necessary to study both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels , each university has a study plan that covers the basic needs of the career according to the country of origin.
In the first place, you must study the law career with an approximate duration of 5 years, after graduating from it you proceed to carry out a specialization in the criminal area , once you have passed the master's degree you must be enrolled in the professional association of choice to be able to exercise.
Among the main universities in which you can take the Master in the specialty are:
- University of Salamanca.
- Autonomous University of Madrid.
- University of Palermo.
- University Carlos III of Madrid.
- Sevilla University.
How to get a criminal lawyer
It is necessary to hire a specialist in this area of law in all those cases in which extensive knowledge of the laws established both in the Spanish penal code and in the criminal procedure law is required. That is, in all those cases in which a crime is committed whose resolution depends on a judicial process .
These services can be obtained through various law firms in the locality, to know their quality and to know which are the best criminal lawyers, they should be based on the statistics of each firm in relation to the number of cases won, versus those lost. , as well as recommendations.
Among the famous or recognized criminal lawyers in Spain in recent years are Bastida-Romero & Sepúlveda, José Antonio Choclán, Ignacio Ayala, Fermín Morales, among others.
In the event that the necessary financial resources are not available to hire a lawyer in the private area, the state provides a free public specialist lawyer to take charge of the case in question, in the same way the free service can be requested directly in professional associations of the applicant's domicile.