MADRID
07/09/2023 a las 13:09
CEST
The State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) has warned of an “alarming” increase of 116% in sexual assaults perpetrated by minors in Spain in the last five years, between 2017, when 451 cases were registered, and 2022, when there were 974 .
This is reflected in the Report presented at the beginning of the judicial year by the State Attorney General, Alvaro Garcia Ortiz, and consulted by Europa Press. According to the document, during most of the year 2022 the differentiation between the criminal type of sexual assault and, on the other hand, that of sexual abuse, has been still in force, for which reason the statistical figures are separated and the computer applications have not collected the novelties of the ‘only yes is yes’ law.
Thus, the data shows that, in 2022, initiated sexual assaults perpetrated by minors amounted to 974which means, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, “a remarkable and worrying rise” 45.8% compared to the year 2021 in which 688 cases were registered.
Thus, the upward trend that has been evident since 2017, when 451 cases were registered, continues. In 2018 there were 648; 564 in 2019 and 544 in 2020. “It is alarming that the number of initiations for this criminal type has increased by 116% since 2017,” the Prosecutor’s Office values in its memory.
The FGE points out that the causes of this boom are “complex“and write down that it is”widespread” the opinion among the delegates that “various factors come together that lead minors to engage in virulent sexual conduct.”
Thus, the Seville section attributes it to the lack of adequate training in ethical-sexual matters and inappropriate and early viewing of violent pornographic material. In the same sense, the sections of Murcia, Badajoz, Barcelona, Huelva, Huesca, Ourense, Balearic Islands, Cáceres and Madrid. Only the Toledo section reports a decrease in these crimes compared to other years in which reported sexual assaults between family members and siblings had increased.
On the other hand, the report of the Prosecutor’s Office reveals that sexual abuse perpetrated by minors represents a total of 1,973 cases filed, experiencing a “slight” increase of 0.81% compared to the year 2021. In any case, a trend is also confirmed ascending since 2017 since the current figure supposes a “remarkable” increase of 111% compared to that year.
Beyond the activity in matters of criminal responsibility of minors, the document reveals that the initiations for crimes of sexual assault have increased by 31.5%, going from 7,302 in 2021 (prior proceedings initiated) to 9,603 in 2022. Meanwhile, crimes of sexual abuse fell by 3.39% (from 8,937 in 2021 to 8,634 in 2022).
In the case of criminal figures for sexual assault and abuse of minors under 16 years of age, they have increased by 2.8% in cases of sexual abuse and by 36.4% in sexual assaults. In this type of crime, the Prosecutor’s Office warns that an “indefinite rate of impunity” is maintained because the behaviors do not emerge, being perpetrated with great frequency by taking advantage of the close relationships between victim and aggressor (family, school, sports clubs). In this sense, the Public Prosecutor appeals to the “responsibility of all” to “create a climate of support so that the victims come out of their silence.”
In the spotlight by the law of ‘yes is yes’
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, in the year 2022 this type of crime charges “special relevance” and they have put “In the spotlight” on the occasion of the legislative modification that they have undergone as a consequence of the Organic Law of integral guarantee of sexual freedom, known as the law of ‘only yes is yes’, promoted by the Ministry of Equality, directed by Irene Montero. The new norm integrates under a single denomination the crimes against sexual freedom that previously constituted two differentiated offenses (sexual abuse and sexual assault) and places consent at the center.
This integration, as the FGE points out, has generated “some confusion” in the public debate “due to the reductions in the sentence of final sentences after their review under the new norm”. As you recall, on November 21, 2022, the State Attorney General issued a decree to give a uniform response, based on the principle of “retroactivity of the most favorable norm”, although urging the “individualization of each case” and to flee from “automatisms that prevent an assessment of the specific circumstances”.
The Public Ministry recalls that at the time of writing this report, a new legislative reform has taken place by virtue of Organic Law 4/2023, of April 27, the reform of the “only yes is yes” law, to avoid the unwanted effect of a possible application of the minimum sentences of the new criminal frameworks, which are broader, so that in serious cases there is no the possibility of lower sentences being imposed.