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To control delays in criminal proceedings, judges select some crimes and prosecute them as misdemeanors before the correctional court. Since 2004, the position of victims in this process seems to have been enhanced by granting a right to appeal and by implementing local negotiations with judges and lawyers. Based on a four-year investigation, paying close attention to relations of power, class, and gender, the article relativizes this access to justice by examining the social effects of judicial delays, their management, and the professional rhetoric of promotion that is grafted onto them.