Excessive use of the precautionary measure of preventive detention by the judges of the penal units of Ecuador

Abstract

This paper is developed with the objective of analyzing the excessive use of the precautionary measure of preventive detention by the judges of the penal units and its incidence in the overpopulation of the prison infrastructure of Ecuador. For this, a type of descriptive research with a qualitative approach is used, since it seeks to illustrate the reality of the excessive use of the precautionary measure of preventive detention within the Ecuadorian legal procedure in criminal matters, by the judges of the penal units of Ecuador, this through a bibliographic analysis – documentary of the legal principles that must be observed, as well as the legal basis. With this it was obtained as a result that the non-custodial precautionary measures correspond to the prohibition of being absent from the country, periodic presentation before the judge or designated authority, house arrest and the placement of the geolocation device, all these are established in the Organic Integral Penal Code, and their applicability although it depends on several factors within the trial process,  The mechanism required to reduce prison overcrowding consists in the proper implementation of the principle of proportionality, with its three sub-principles, i.e. that the measure applied is suitable, necessary, and proportionate in the strict sense. This concludes that the principle of proportionality is the essential legal means for administrators of justice to reduce the imposition of pretrial detention and consequently reduce prison overcrowding.