The Law for Penal Responsibility for Minors comes into force

Today, one year after its publication in the Official Gazette, the Organic Law regulating the penal responsibility of minors comes into force. The new Law will be applied to demand responsibility from people older than 14 and younger than 18 for committing offences described as offences or faults in the Penal Code or special penal laws. The application of the Law to those older than 18 and under 21, foreseen in article 69 of the Penal Code, can be agreed by the Judge attending to the personal circumstances and the degree of maturity of the author, and the nature and gravity of the deeds.

The Law for Penal Responsibility of Minors strengthens the guarantees that help minors and centres the sanctions from a finality for reeducation. The new law establishes that minors under 18, after their arrest, will have to be judged with six months. Therefore, at first, due to the retroactive effect, some youngster, presumed delinquents, who have not been judged and have been over 6 months in prison, will be released.

The Law for Penal Responsibility of Minors, that now comes into force, was a necessity in which all the social forces coincided as they considered the previous regulation for the penal responsibility of minors to be out of date and inadequate.

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Date of publication: 13/01/2001

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