Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)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.
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.