The courts have already lowered 1,079 sentences for sexual offenders since the 'only yes is yes' law came into force

The number of sentence reductions for sexual offenders already exceeds a thousand. According to data published this Thursday by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), at least 1,079 sex offenders have seen their sentences reduced since the 'only yes is yes' law came into force on October 7, which has meant the release of at least 108 prisoners.

The figures compile the data from sentencing reviews carried out by the Supreme Court, the National Court, the superior courts of justice of the autonomous communities and the provincial courts, and reveal an increase of 100 sentence reductions and 4 more releases since the Last count carried out about a month ago.

Of the 1,079 sentence reductions, almost 90% (940) have been agreed by the provincial courts. The superior courts of justice have issued 118, the Supreme Court 20 and the Provincial Court one. In addition, although the general photo shows that, of the total reviews, the sentences have been reduced in three out of ten cases, the situation varies if the data from each body is observed.

The Supreme is the one that has agreed the most reductions for sexual offenders regarding reviews: of a total of 47 reviews, the high court has reduced 20, which represents 42.6%. In the same way, the superior courts of justice of the autonomous communities have reduced more than one in four sentences (27.7%), and the provincial hearings 30.8%.. The National Court is, according to the CGPJ data, the one that has agreed the least reductions: only 14.3% (one of seven).

As for the releases, here too, most of them —95%— were issued by the provincial courts, while the remaining five have been agreed by the higher courts of justice.

By autonomous communities

By communities, Madrid is, by far, the one that has reduced the most sentences in proportion to its territory. Between the Madrid superior court of justice and the provincial courts, a total of 169 sentences (43 and 126, respectively) and 16 releases have been lowered. It is followed by Andalusia, with nine reductions issued in the higher courts and 193 distributed in Almería (38), Cádiz (49), Córdoba (15), Granada (16), Huelva (8), Jaén (3), Málaga (25) and Seville (39).

The TS will set criteria in June

The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court will hold a monographic plenary session on June 6 and 7 to establish doctrine on the review of final sentences by the law guaranteeing sexual freedom. The intention of the high court is none other than to unify criteria before the disparate decisions of the provincial courts, since there are courts that are reducing sentences, but others are not.

It will be the first time that the high court enters to analyze whether the courts have applied the law to guarantee sexual freedom – that of 'yes is yes' – in their sentence reviews.. The magistrates will carry out this study with the aim of not only unifying criteria, but also establishing doctrine, and because it already accumulates dozens of appeals against review orders.

The recount also comes just two weeks after the Cortes approved a reform of the 'only yes is yes' law, promoted by the PSOE as a result of the trickle of sentence reductions. The modification, which introduces violence and intimidation as aggravated subtypes to compute higher penalties, caused a schism between the coalition partners, since the socialists decided to change a law drafted in the offices of the Ministry of Equality (Unidas Podemos), but with the rejection of the purple ones. However, no reform will stop sentence revisions, since the criminal principle will always prevail, which obliges to apply to the defendant the law that is more favorable to him, and that in these cases the judges have considered that it is that of ‘yes is yes’. 

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