The Superior Prosecutor of Castilla y León, Santiago Mena, reviewed in his opening speech of the judicial year in the community the report of the actions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2023 to dedicate a large section to minors and social networks and end with suggest banning cell phones in schools. According to him, teachers should be involved in the responsible use of social networks by minors and the solution would be “to ban mobile phones in schools, establishing clear consequences for non-compliance, with mandatory training courses and financial sanctions if not required”.
Mena insisted that It is “absolutely necessary” to raise awareness of the dangers in schools of misuse of social networks and the Internet. In this sense, he warned against third parties who use the anonymity of social networks and against the real danger of the dissemination of this material on social networks or through web pages.
For the Superior Prosecutor of Castilla y León, the State should be aware that large technology companies have invaded not only the human physical space, but also the mental space, to manipulate the responses and value those that favor their economic or ideological interests. Therefore, he concluded that Minors are victims of technology (psychological affectation, unwanted sexual advances, exposure of intimacy, sexual predators, pornography,…) and the responsibility lies largely with those who derive economic profit from the risks they generate.
More trials suspended
In the data of the 2023 report, the reduction of minutes in all procedures and before all bodies was highlighted and drew attention to the increase in the number of trials. 31% of the number of attempts indicated were suspended. However, he linked this situation to the strikes that affected the Ministry of Justice that year. To this factor, he added the lack of precision of the computer systems, the slowness in implementing new requests and the cumbersomeness of many judicial procedures.
He also drew attention to the increase in proceedings initiated for gender violence, reaching 4,612 preliminary proceedings and 2,151 emergency proceedings, among which he recalled in particular the two deaths in Ávila and Salamanca and regretted that despite “there are still pockets of political violence, social groups or people who continue to deny the existence of this cruel reality.”
Mena also referred to the current political scenario to show his opposition to accepting “biased and interested criticism” from the media, political groups and pressure groups of all kinds against the administration of justice in general and the prosecution in particular. , for “personal or particular facts or situations of certain prosecutors or judges” that extend “without foundation”, he stressed, to the entire group. On the other hand, he praised “the work well done by the prosecutors” and specified that “the media issues that affect the prosecution must not hide the extraordinary work carried out by prosecutors in the rest of the territory”. “The harsh criticism of our institution is unfair because it is generalized and aims to extend to the rest of the prosecutors,” he lamented.
