In Spain there has been no stop talking in recent months about a law that protects women and acts against sexual offenders.
(In context: Spain: what does the ‘Only yes is yes’ law consist of?)
After unsuccessful attempts, the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE), in the government, alone presented a project that considerably increases the penalties provided for up to now.
(See also: A Colombian woman beheaded and the serious panorama of sexist violence in Spain)
He did it against the coalition party, United We Can (UP), which considers that the project violates the principle of consent.
The truth is that action was necessary to correct the flaws contained in the law, which was created after the demonstrations by the Spanish who rose up when the rape of a minor by a group of young people, known as The packduring the San Fermín festivities in Pamplona in the summer of 2016.
The important thing is that when the unwanted situation is detected, as it has been in this case, action is taken in the most serious and rigorous way possible.
The episode occupied the attention of the media, political parties and the government.
Then came disappointment and disillusionment. The current penal norms favored the rapists.
What happened? Until then, the law distinguished between abuses, considered less serious, and assaults with violence and intimidationwith stronger penalties.
The Provincial Court of Pamplona, after listening to the culprits and their defense lawyers, determined that it was an abuse because it was not possible to prove that there had been violence or intimidation.
The rapists got away with it, although the decision of the Provincial Court was later reviewed by the supreme court and the penalties for those guilty were increased.
New law
But the social damage was done. Rape could be a trick. The situation encouraged the government to modify the law, under the leadership of Irene MonteroMinister of Equality, belonging to UP.
The official is controversial for her radical feminist positions, and she put her team to work on a new regulation.
The bill passed to the Council of Ministers for study, which immediately approved it despite the reluctance of Juan Carlos Campo, then Minister of Justice, and former vice president of the government Carmen Calvo.
Subsequently, it went through parliamentary proceedings, for almost a year. Everything seemed to be going perfectly.
The key to the project consisted in eliminating the difference between sexual abuse and assault and turn all behaviors of this nature into aggressions.
Both crimes were combined into one and a new range of penalties was set.
The project, on the other hand, at the forefront of European legislation, marked consent as its axis.
This means that the judicial concern is no longer judging how women respond or how much they resist aggression.
Now it depends on the will. there must be consentfree and express, so that it is not considered a crime against sexual freedom.
The project was approved in August of last year as the Law for the Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom.
The Government estimated that the law condenses feminist claims and changes the paradigm of sexual violence. The PSOE and UP congratulated each other on the new norm. So far the euphoria.
unexpected benefits
Lawyers for prisoners for sexual crimes spoiled the party. When the figure of the sexual abuseMany prisoners have been released. And others have benefited from reduced sentences.
If before the law provided for up to five years in prison for these crimes, now they are limited to four. Nobody imagined that the new legal framework would lead to a downward review of sentences.
Pilar Llop, Minister of Justice, explained the effects of the law: “At this time it was considered that if sexual abuse was punishable with a sentence of one to three years and sexual assault with a sentence of one to five years, by unifying The two crimes left him with a sentence of one to four years because punishing what was previously abuse with five years was thought to be a disproportionate sentence. That’s why it dropped in a year.”
In what has elapsed of time, the Law of Sexual Freedom or of the only yes is yes has caused more 415 reductions in sentences for sexual offenders and 40 have already left prisonsalthough it is feared that they are much more due to lack of reports from the entire country.
According to the latest figures from the Judiciary, in Spain there are 3,689 convicted with a final sentence for crimes against sexual freedom.
The question that circulates is: How many more will be released or with reduced sentences while the law is corrected?
It is enough to know that only in Madrid 218 cases have been reviewed ex officio and 148 at the request of a party, and the sentences had been lowered in 41 cases.
tension between parties
The shot backfired and now tension reigns in Spain. The Government, to remedy the situation, presented the new project in which the penalties are considerably increased, while UP points out that it is a setback.
For the Minister of Justice (of the PSOE) the important thing is to act: “Obviously, when touching the Penal Code we must take into account all the consequences that a reform can have. That is why I say now that I believe that we have not failed. But we are not infallible, nobody is. There can always be some mistake, some failure. The important thing is that when the unwanted situation is detected, as it has been in this case, action is taken in the most serious and rigorous way possible.”.
Montero, for his part, believes that the figure of consent goes wrong in the new government project: “We are going to work to preserve consent as the center of the Penal Code and not to return to that Penal Code of La Manada based on violence and intimidation, which meant that women were asked if they had closed their legs properly or if They had resisted.”
The Minister of Justice, however, responds to her colleague in the Council of Ministers: “The heart of the reform that we are proposing now is to adjust the penalties according to their seriousness, maintaining the same model as that of consent, because the articles that refer to consent and the unified model of crimes are not touched”.
The confrontation between President Pedro Sánchez and UP is not new in legislative initiatives. Over the last few years, it has been seen that many proposals promoted by the far-left party have not been well received by Sánchez.
The pulse has almost always been won by UP. After all, it is the political force that ensures his continuity in power.
The situation, in any case, is delicate. Prisoners for sexual crimes, favored by current law, can benefit until the new regulations are issued.
President Sánchez has had no choice but to assume responsibility. Before the Congress of Deputies, he expressed: “I show my face and when there is a problem I strive to solve it.”
The opposition Popular Party (right) doubts his sincerity. His spokesman in Parliament, Cuca Gamarra, said that the president’s attitude is guided “only by the polls and the electoral damage.”
In Spainindeed, there will be general election in november municipalities in the month of May and in some autonomous communities throughout the year.
For the time being, all the disagreements between the parties regarding the project presented by the PSOE must be resolved in Parliament. It will not be easy, because UP does not intend to give up. The Socialists expect the retouched law to come into force at the end of this month.
JUANITA SAMPER OSPINA
TIME CORRESPONDENT
MADRID
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