La acción popular: claves de una reforma que conviene ponderar.

Civil action characterizes our criminal proceedings in which it constitutes an exclusive institution. This article is aimed at fully understanding its relevance in order to adequately prepare us for a possible reform of its legal configuration. To that end, a review of its legal regulation and broad jurisprudential reference is not enough. This also requires a study of its links with the whole procedural model, otherwise we will not be faced with a more or less justified modification of a specific concept, but rather with a further step in what would in fact constitute a sea-change in our procedural system whose assessment must be at least weighed and balanced with two concrete aspects: the regime for exercising official criminal action and the growing scope of applying the principle of opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]