For the third year in a row, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Community of Madrid points out in its annual report the increase in crimes committed by minors. So much so that the organization had to expand the team to accommodate the increasing work in this area. In 2022, 34 minors were accused of involvement in a homicide, compared to 23 – 47% more in the previous year. For Chief Public Prosecutor Almudena Lastra, these data are “extremely worrying,” as she said this Thursday at the opening of the judicial year in Madrid. In 2017, eight people were charged with the same crime.
The ministry also highlights that 157 sexual assaults were recorded, compared to 86 last year, an increase of 82.56%. “It is important, in particular, to adopt educational measures that provide minors with the knowledge and tools that allow them to properly manage their relationships and their sexual development.” Intervention must be early and multidisciplinary to prevent violence is naturalized,” the report says.
To interpret the data with facts, 2022 was a year of explosion of violence by youth gangs, whose activities resulted in six murders, two of them of two 15-year-old boys. In 2023, the lethality of their brawls has decreased significantly and there has only been one murder so far, which occurred in March in Tetouan County. However, the public prosecutor’s office is analyzing the trend beyond the annual data and is therefore calling for solutions outside the criminal area, precisely to prevent these minors from ending up in front of a judge.
The prosecution also emphasizes that many of these defendants, particularly those in the 16 to 18 age group, have previously been reported to the police. For this reason, prosecutors are calling for a “comprehensive and multidisciplinary” approach. This call for attention is in line with what the Attorney General’s Office did two weeks ago, which also referred to the naturalization of violence by young people.
But this increase in aggressiveness at an early age is also seen in other areas, such as gender-based violence. Prosecutors noted a “significant increase” in cases of abuse involving extremely young couples. “A total of 959 cases of mutual attacks were registered in the security service, which corresponds to 11.5% of the cases initiated,” the report says. This percentage falls in a scenario in which open cases of gender-based violence have increased significantly, especially in the capital, where 31,229 cases were initiated compared to 17,563 last year.
The statistical data also shows an increase in family abuse, especially among children who attack their parents, which is called ascending abuse. In 2022, 1,152 proceedings were initiated due to these attacks, and in 2021 there were 706, an increase of 63%. “This should make us think about the educational model,” emphasized Almudena Lastra.
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Other crimes
Beyond the area of juvenile justice, the report offers a portrait of crime in the Community of Madrid. One of the areas of greatest concern to prosecutors is road safety, an area in which cases have increased by 45% compared to last year. Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs has increased the most. The number of cases increased from 1,930 to 3,061, an increase of 58.60%. In this section, prosecutors refer in particular to the so-called personal mobility vehicles (MVP), particularly scooters, which have emerged in recent years as a sustainable alternative to urban mobility, although their suitability for road safety still raises doubts . These vehicles have caused fatal accidents.
“In 2022 there are various interventions by the city police related to the VMP. Among them, intervention stands out in 97 accidents with property damage, 496 accidents with minor injuries and 24 accidents with serious injuries,” the document says. The report highlights that most of the cases initiated concern irregularities in the use of scooters with the same power and speed as mopeds, without being registered as such. He points out that they are sold to the consumer without informing him of these characteristics, which, however, is not always the case: “In many cases, it is the users themselves who do not respect the rules for the correct use of these products or fail to comply.” Vehicles that drive primarily on the sidewalk.” with the resulting danger to pedestrians.”
The report also notes an increase in crimes against public health (drug trafficking). In 2022, 3,050 proceedings were initiated in this area, 15% more than in the previous year. According to the ministry, most of these problems are due to the “continuous destruction of hashish and marijuana plantations that have spread over a large part of the Community of Madrid, under roofs and in some cases also in underground spaces”. The document states that Spain has become one of the main producers of the drug. “This increase is undoubtedly linked to the great economic benefit obtained from the crops studied, together with the low penalty provided for this type of substance,” emphasize the prosecutors.
Another point of conflict they point out in the report is the Cañada Real, a frequent scene of police operations and the closure of outlets. The anti-drug prosecutors mention in particular the Barro operation of the Guardia Civil and the Pipa operation of the National Police, carried out in different sectors of the territory, in which 44 arrests were made, 22 searches were carried out and “in which illegal consumption of electricity occurred “. The number of people examined in a single day was equivalent to the performance of the entire La Gavia shopping center.”
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