Within a maximum period of nine months, the Violence against Women Courts will face an unprecedented change and will begin to take on all cases of sexual assault when the victim is a woman, regardless of whether or not the accused is her partner or ex-partner. This was stipulated in the law of the only yes is yes and this has been reflected in the Justice Efficiency Law approved in the last plenary session of Congress of the year, a norm that consolidates several significant modifications in the organization of the judicial system.
The entry into force in October 2022 of the Law of Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom (LOGILS) was marked by the controversy of the reductions in sentences agreed by some courts, but at that time the one-year period that the norm gave began. to the Government to send to the Cortes a bill aimed at specializing the courts that hear cases of sexual violence. To this end, it stipulated the “review of the powers” of the judicial bodies that since 2005 have been in charge of matters related to gender violence, those in which the victim is a woman and the aggressor is a man with whom she has or has had a relationship in the past.
Two years after the entry into force of the law only yes is yes – with electoral advance through – the measure has been agreed by the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes and Podemos as part of the Justice Efficiency Law: it establishes that nine months after its entry into force, the Violence against Women Courts must assume jurisdiction over sexual violence in the processes that begin from that moment on. Also the crimes of female genital mutilation, forced marriage, sexual harassment and trafficking for sexual exploitation as long as “the offended person is a woman,” the text states.
They, women, are the vast majority of the victims: 86%, according to the latest report from the Ministry of the Interior. The change is in line with a broad conception of sexist violence to which the Istanbul Convention ratified by Spain ten years ago points out and which implies considering as such violent acts committed against women due to the fact that they are women beyond their partner or ex-partner. . Therefore, in nine months the same judge who investigates or sentences the case of a woman who is psychologically abused by her husband will also do so with the young woman who is sexually assaulted by a co-worker or a man in a bar.
“Specialization is essential because there is an evident lack of training that translates into sentences and previously into precautionary measures to protect victims,” claims Judge Victoria Rosell, who was the Government’s delegate against Gender Violence when the Ministry of Equality of Irene Montero promoted the law of only yes is yes.
Until then, the Government will have to evaluate what “transformations are necessary” in the courts, having previously detected “the personnel, material and organizational needs” and also assessing what will be “their impact on the workload of the different bodies,” he details. the new rule, which among its main novelties includes the transformation of single-person courts into the so-called Courts of Instance, which will be made up of different sections. In this way, 3,800 courts will become 431 Courts.
The fear of overload
That before the implementation of the measure there is an assessment of the workload, as the law says, will not imply that there are courts (from now on, sections) that will not assume these powers. “Everyone will know about sexual violence,” says Manuel Olmedo, Secretary of State for Justice. Podemos, which accuses the Government of “delaying” the measure, points out that the change “represents an increase in workload that must be resolved in the most appropriate way, guaranteeing specialized justice for all victims.”
Overload is one of the main concerns in the sector. “It is a very positive measure, but the biggest problem we are going to have is the court layout we have. “Are we going to assume it with the same ones that exist until now?” asks Cira Domínguez, head of the Court of Violence against Women of Getafe. The judge believes that this “can have a significant rebound effect” that leads to “in the end no one will want” a destination of this type. According to Government data from 2022, of the 70 exclusive courts analyzed – there are 121 and another 314 that also deal with other crime – 35% are already overloaded today.
In addition, the recently approved text incorporates another measure pending from the law of the only yes is yes and establishes that legal assistance will be free for all victims of sexual crimes. On this issue, which will also come into force in nine months, attention has been drawn Amnesty Internationalwhich regrets “the slowness of the Government” in promoting the norm and recalls the need to “consolidate the initial and continued training in sexual violence for all justice operators.” The organization also points to “the lack of commitment of some communities” with the crisis centers, for which the deadline has been extended again until June 2025.
And the girls and adolescents?
The new law also takes the first step to create courts specialized in violence against children and adolescents, a mandate contained in the 2021 child protection law. Following the gender violence model, these bodies will be in charge of cases of abuse of children and adolescents, although the norm does not establish a deadline for its implementation.
However, the question of what type of body will see matters related to sexual crimes against underage girls and young women hangs over this entire new judicial implementation. Because, on the one hand, the text establishes that children’s courts will be competent to investigate and prosecute these cases “when the victim is a boy, girl or adolescent”, but at the same time it points out that when the facts “could also be known” by a court specialized in gender violence “the jurisdiction will correspond” to the latter. And the point is that from now on, by law these will be those in charge of sexual violence against women.
The matter is not trivial because minors represent 43% of the victims who report sexual assaults, according to the latest data. Podemos does not clarify this point and the Secretary of State for Justice admits that this has been “an important debate” during the processing and points out that this last provision means that sexual violence against adolescent girls and boys must be heard by Violence Courts. about Women. Even so, he admits that it is “an interpretation” and that “it will be the judges” who set the pace with jurisprudence because “the same matter can come under the umbrella of both sections.”
There are legal voices consulted who, on the contrary, believe that “the most logical thing” would be for these cases to be handled in childhood and adolescence, but the reality is that the issue raises questions. Does it make sense that sexual violence against girls is tried in one type of court and against boys in another? And what happens when it is a single case with multiple victims of different genders? On the other hand, sexual violence against 16 and 17 year old girls – who by law can already give consent – should fall under which of the two types of courts?
Victoria Rosell views the implementation of the Violence Against Childhood Courts with skepticism because, although she believes that “the ideal would be both specializations” she thinks that “unless the judicial positions are doubled” it is unfeasible”, so in that context , the former Government delegate is committed “to sections of gender violence courts with jurisdiction over sexual violence that include minors and have a gender and childhood perspective.” In this sense, the judge fears that the courts specialized in violence against children and adolescents lack adequate training in equality or that they try to oppose both types of bodies as if “the majority of violence against children were not also a patriarchal violence.”
“It is a risk that they try to do both things at the same time and neither of them is properly attended to or the sexist violence ends up being diluted in times of the rise of denialism. We cannot allow ourselves to have both of them shipwreck by separating both specializations,” he concludes.
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