“Only yes is no” next month will cease to be the cry against sexist violence to become law, to become reality. Judges and police will only be able to consider August as the valid criterion for determining if a case has been filed of sexual violence. To immediately protect the victim and to punish the crime.
The Senate will accelerate the approval of the sexual freedom bill, which will make any sexual act without consent assaultable or rapeable. Parties that backed the law in Congress in may, including PP and Vox have agreed to let it pass the Senate without amendments. This is in addition to the fact that the text has been negotiated and settled on for months in the Low camera.
In the absence of modifications, the yes of the Upper House is the final one. It will then send the law to the BOE directly so it can publish it. Between the 18th and 21st of May, the final yes will be recorded by the Upper House.
This law will be approved by the government after more than two years worth of hard negotiations and arm wrestling among the government partners and other parties. It is just days after the sixth anniversary the brutal attack by La Manada, Sanfermines on a young girl, 18, who was drinking in a portal in central Pamplona, in July 2016. It was the massive popular outrage that resulted from the lenient initial sentence against the attackers, when the Court of Navarra saw only abuse and not rape. This led to the need for reform of the Penal Code, which is now approved.
In its twenty-fifth and final provision, the law envisages its entry into effect 30 days after publication by the BOE. This means that the majority of the rule, including reform of Penal Code, will apply before August ends.
This text amends the entire chapter about sexual crimes. The regulation’s central point is consent from the victim. Abuse disappears, and all non-consensual acts will be sexual assault and assault with penetration, and rape. For either category, it will no longer require violence or intimidation to convict.
Forced penetration is rape. Any non-consensual penetration, regardless of violence or intimidation, is considered rape.
Every aggression deserves jail. Fines are the final punishment for abuses. Aggression must be punished with at least one year imprisonment
Street harassment. Localization and a fine are used to punish sexual harassment or other unacceptable behavior.
Each act of aggression will result in a minimum of one-year imprisonment. However, new aggravating circumstances will increase the sentence by 2 to 3 years. For example, assaulting a partner or ex-partner, or using chemical submission (getting drunk and drugging the victim to nullify their will), which includes street harassment as a crime. It also prohibits the advertisement of prostitution in any media and includes violence against women in addition to sexual and gender violence.
All victims of these crimes are guaranteed protection under the law, regardless of whether there is a formal complaint. They will be provided with legal support, financial assistance, residential and work support, as well as health, psychological, economic, or work support. Agents, forensic experts, and specialized judges will assist them. They will also be welcomed into the 24 hour crisis centers, which have been established in all provinces and equivalent children’s homes for those under 16.
This is the only part of the law not to be immediately applied. Administrators have a maximum of six months to refine the support structures for these women. The social protocols that allow victims to be identified as such, including the crisis centers.
The Government will be allowed to send Congress legal reforms that permit the courts and prosecutors who specialize in violence against women to investigate all of these crimes. It will also have the right to send Congress a law reform that provides legal aid for all sexual violence victims.
Valencia police are investigating the case of the last reported sexual assault by a group. The police investigated the incident that occurred in Valencia on June 18th. Three men approached a woman aged 26 at dawn and raped her on a street in central London. This is the latest instance of a crime that was well-known but not widely known. La Manada, a group that raped and then convicted a young girl in 2016 Sanfermines, mobilized Spanish society, triggering countless complaints.
There is not much data available, but a few studies show that the number of pack attacks has increased by five over the past ten years. There is a pattern to this: attacks usually take place on weekends or holidays. In 50% and 60% of cases, victims are between 18-35 years old. The aggressors have seen a lot pornography. According to the Geoviolencia Sexual portal in Spain, more than 270 cases of group sexual assaults were reported since 2016. Half of these occurred between May and Sept 2016, often occurring during moments of leisure or scenarios like summer parties.
Experts stress the importance of filing a complaint to activate all mechanisms for protection of the victim and the prosecution of the guilty. False complaints such as the one filed by a young woman about a rape at La Malagueta Beach on May 8-9 last year, are not helpful, but they are very rare. To end suffering and hiding, the first step is to file a formal complaint. La Manada, which includes the former civil guard Antonio Manuel Guerrero Escudero and the ex-military Jose Angel Prenda and Angel Boza, and Jesus Escudero, was the subject of a formal complaint. A judicial process led to the final sentence. Today, the multiple sexual assault victims are serving between 15 and 21 years imprisonment. This is because the penalty for recording the victim and having stolen his phone was added to the crime.
