12 Aug, 2009 @ 00:01
1 min read
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YOUTH CRIME: WE MUST ACT

THE youth crime wave which saw two underage girls gang raped last month has led to urgent calls for juvenile law changes.

Following the attacks that horrified Spain (see Olive Press issue 63) PP opposition leader Mariano Rajoy has demanded that minors should be charged with serious crimes, including rape. He has vowed to pursue the changes to prosecute children under 14 in September.

Meanwhile Spain´s attorney-general, Candido Conde-Pumpido, called for “maximum force against these worrying incidents” to halt the recent spate of crimes.

But, he added: “We must not just focus on solving these attacks judicially, but on educating youngsters.”

“Opposition leader Mariano Rajoy has demanded that minors should be charged with serious crimes, including rape.”

However, ombudsman Jose Chamizo refused to back any law changes.

Despite urging in-depth investigations, he claimed that prosecuting minors would not solve the causes of such crimes.

The news comes as Spain was rocked by further crimes, including a 14-year-old arrested for sexual assault on a minor and five other youths being sent to a detention centre for a brutal murder in Barcelona.

Click here to read more News from The Olive Press.

Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)

Jon Clarke is a Londoner who worked at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as an investigative journalist before moving to Spain in 2003 where he helped set up the Olive Press.

After studying Geography at Manchester University he fell in love with Spain during a two-year stint teaching English in Madrid.

On returning to London, he studied journalism and landed his first job at the weekly Informer newspaper in Teddington, covering hundreds of stories in areas including Hounslow, Richmond and Harrow.

This led on to work at the Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mirror, Standard and even the Sun, before he landed his first full time job at the Daily Mail.

After a year on the Newsdesk he worked as a Showbiz correspondent covering mostly music, including the rise of the Spice Girls, the rivalry between Oasis and Blur and interviewed many famous musicians such as Joe Strummer and Ray Manzarak, as well as Peter Gabriel and Bjorn from Abba on his own private island.

After a year as the News Editor at the UK’s largest-selling magazine Now, he returned to work as an investigative journalist in Features at the Mail on Sunday.

As well as tracking down Jimi Hendrix’ sole living heir in Sweden, while there he also helped lead the initial investigation into Prince Andrew’s seedy links to Jeffrey Epstein during three trips to America.

He had dozens of exclusive stories, while his travel writing took him to Jamaica, Brazil and Belarus.

He is the author of three books; Costa Killer, Dining Secrets of Andalucia and My Search for Madeleine.

Contact jon@theolivepress.es

1 Comment

  1. Spain is a coumtry where young people imitate what they see and hear from other countries. The media has a lot to answer for – epecially films that glamourise nd trivialise gang violence.

    This is also relatively new to Spain. It has been going on in the UK and other parts of Northen Europe for a long time.

    It may be difficult to stop, but the first step is to introduce severe penalities. Juveniles should be viewed by the justice system as adults. Crimes against the person shoud carry a mimimum ten year sentence, regardless of the offenders age and crimes such as rape should be dealt with by life sentences.

    Spain has the chance to avoid the mistakes made in other parts of Europe where sentences are leniant and juvenile offenders are seen as victims. Why waste time trying to reform them? Remove them from society for a long time or for the rest of their lives. The message will spread.

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