Sentencing reductions for sexual offenders continue: 1,079 beneficiaries
The General Council of the Judiciary has published this Thursday the new balance of the effects of the law known as the only yes is yes. The courts have agreed to at least 1,079 sentence reductions in application of the rule, already repealed, according to the data collected until May 1 by the CGPJ of the Supreme Court, the National Court, the Superior Courts of Justice and the Provincial Courts. These resolutions have led to at least 108 releases.
The data is after the entry into force of the reform promoted by the PSOE to stop these reductions in the future. The changes were approved on the 26th. The very text of that modification recognized that what the Government described as “undesired effects” will last. “It is important to note that this reform can only be for the future, as the new regulatory reality has been consolidated, irreversibly, by effect of Organic Law 10/2022, of September 6, on the Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom, both for crimes committed before the entry into force of that organic law as well as for those that have been perpetrated while it is in force. This is a consequence of article 25 of the Spanish Constitution and the constitutional principle of the retroactivity of the most favorable criminal law contained in article 9.3 of said Fundamental Law”, warns.
The PSOE reform returns in part to the system of the old Penal Code and introduces a difference in the ranges of penalties for sexual assault. When violence, intimidation or assault occurs against a woman deprived of reason or sense, for whatever reason, the punishment ranges from six to 12 years, while sexual assault carried out with abuse of superiority or taking advantage of the victim's vulnerability it is worth between four and 12.
The Council has been warning that the effects of the law of only yes is yes will continue to unfold “for years”. The reform will not prevent thousands of people accused of sexual crimes from being tried and sentenced in the future, applying the penalties established in the current text.. Different sources recall that the principle of criminal retroactivity obliges the prisoner to apply the legislation that is most favorable to him in the period from the commission of the crime to the expiration of the future sentence.. For this reason, all the procedures that are now under investigation will be marked by the controversial law and the introduction of modifications in the text will not be able to avoid it..
The legal sources consulted also warn that the current reviews, those that are known daily and that apply to sentences already handed down, will also continue despite the changes. The provisional data that they handle pushes away the end of the downward revision of sentences. The figures collected by Penitentiary Institutions indicate that there are almost 4,000 prisoners for this type of crime, either serving a sentence or in pretrial detention awaiting trial..