Noelia Lopez and Martha Ostiz |
Madrid (EFE).- Logroño, Petrer (Alicante), Salou (Tarragona), Badalona (Barcelona)… In recent months there have been reports of sexual assaults carried out by groups of minors in which young boys participate, several of them they even less than 14 years old. What happens in these cases?
The law on the criminal responsibility of minors establishes that minors under 14 are not criminally liable. The legislators understood that the infractions that they usually commit are generally irrelevant and that, in the cases in which they generate social alarm, the family and civil assistance are sufficient to give them a sufficient response, without the need for the intervention of the sanctioning judicial apparatus of the State.
archived cases
In its latest report, the State Attorney General’s Office warned of the “progressive and important” increase in sexual crimes with minors involved: 2,625 open procedures in 2021, compared to the 1,271 registered five years earlier.
They were figures for crimes allegedly committed by boys between the ages of 14 and 17, because when the aggressors are younger, the cases are archived.
According to the same memory, in 2021 8,433 proceedings were filed for cause.
The report does not specify the type of crime and also warns that the evolution of the figures for children under 14 years of age presents a trajectory with saw teeth and sudden rises and falls that prevent drawing criminological conclusions from the behavior of this group.
It is an objective fact, however, the Prosecutor’s Office points out, that in a large part of the cases of bullying, minors under 14 are involved and that “the increase in their participation in crimes against sexual freedom or committed through the Technology of the information and communication”.
no criminal liability
Once the proceedings are filed, legal sources explain to EFE, the juvenile prosecutors refer the cases to the regional services for the protection of minors, which are in charge of offering these children and their families programs appropriate to the different behaviors and needs.
There is no possible internment since measures that reduce freedoms or rights cannot be established, these sources highlight. For example, it is not possible to prevent the aggressor from crossing paths with the victim again, because a restraining measure cannot be imposed.
The only way for their internment would be for them to be declared helpless, but it would be a measure for the protection of the minor. And, the sources warn, “the aggressors are not usually children at risk or broken families; the vast majority are normalized kids”.
Protocols and regional programs
The care of minors under 14 years of age who commit crimes is carried out by the child protection services of the autonomous communities, but there are not always adequate resources.
This was admitted, for example, by the Community of Madrid in 2019 when it tendered a contract to care for minor offenders between the ages of 11 and 13 referred by the Prosecutor’s Office. As recognized by the Ministry of Social and Family Policies, intervention was made in a very low percentage of the referred cases, those with a medium or high risk of abandonment or lack of protection.
The objective of the different regional protocols and programs is to make these minors aware of the consequences of their acts in order to prevent recidivism and enable reconciliation with the victims and reparation for the damage caused, in addition to guiding the parents.
In the Balearic Islands, for example, the Socio-educational Care Program for offenders under 14 years of age addresses the reconstruction of the conflict based on the recognition of the damage, the request for an apology and reparation, seeking a commitment from the offender for certain actions as symbolic compensation for the damage caused.
In Aragon, for its part, the Educational Care Team for Minors under 14 years of age plans to prevent, evaluate and correct situations of social conflict through education in values of coexistence and the introduction of changes in the family and social environment that enable their integral development as a person, he explains on his website.
Law of only yes is yes: internment closed from 14
The controversial law of only yes is yes lowered the minimum penalties for certain sexual assaults, but in the case of minors between 14 and 17 years of age, it aggravated the punishment by reforming the law on the criminal responsibility of minors and forcing internment in a closed regime for all bullies.
Before, this internment was dictated in cases of assault with violence or rape, but this punishment was extended to behaviors that were previously considered only abuses, a measure that jurists have warned that it may be disproportionate and that the PSOE has decided to correct by reforming the norm. .
The Socialists admit in their reform proposal that, in some cases, this law ends up imposing heavier penalties on minors than on adults. While an adult can avoid going to prison with a sentence of less than two years if he meets certain requirements, the minor is obliged to complete the internment, which is re-evaluated once half the time has elapsed.