The report from the Madrid Public Prosecutor’s Office corresponding to 2023 leaves, once again, very worrying elements in the area of delinquency committed by minors. Although this is still the 16-18 age group where the most adolescents are recorded in the reports (6,926) and in which more criminal recidivism (4,065 have already been booked for previous crimes); a considerable increase was detected between 14 and 16 years old: 6,037 compared to 4,616 in 2022. Among them, 2,849 had already received notices, a figure which was 1,901 the previous year.
What is even more striking is that blameless minors (those aged 13 and under, without any criminal responsibility) go from 2,259 to 2,770 in the same period. Furthermore, although they cannot be detained, let alone prosecuted, it is proven that 873 of them had priors, which represents 61% more than the previous year (541).
This is just one example of the skyrocketing rise in violence among young people in the Community of Madrid, an alert that the Public Ministry has been issuing for years and which, in its annual report, puts black and white. “The numbers are a faithful reflection of trivialization by minors and young people of violence and sexuality, and this from a very young age – analyzes the Prosecutor’s Office –. They highlight their possible deficiencies in the family, educational and social spheres, which should lead us to a deep reflection on our social model. Commits to “global and above all reinforced educational work” in the family and social sphere“, emphasizing their sexual relationships, “especially in the digital world we live in.”
The organization urges the powers in place, to prevent delinquency from becoming the “modus vivendi” of these young people, to invest in “policies oriented towards prevention”and thus avoid any action in the criminal sphere.
“The overall forensic expertise protocol did not meet expectations, it generated delays among the guards”
Cases of domestic violence in this group also increase by almost 13% and cases of gender-based violence by 4.5%. Sexual offenses exceed 40%: they have been recorded a total of 595 cases of assault and sexual abuse, compared to 425 in 2022. And here, the prosecution emphasizes that “in many of these behaviors, a total of 68, minors under the age of 14 were involved”.
It is attributed, once again, to “access to the Internet without any control or to those who exist indifferently”, in explicit reference to pornography: “More and younger, they trivialize their conception of sexual relations and maintain them . without being well preparedvery early, which leads them to find themselves in situations that, in most cases, they do not know how to handle.
Fewer murders
Generally speaking, 9,674 preliminary procedures were opened (+9.7%) in minor matters; The largest increase occurred in the last quarter of 2023. This is just one example of the skyrocketing rise in youth violence in the Community of Madrid. Although homicides and murders committed by people aged 14 to 17 have decreased by 20%, “This is still an alarming number“Well, there were 27 cases, almost 17.5% more than in 2021,” specifies the prosecution. In fact, injuries continue to increase (2,679, compared to 2,598 in the previous report, or 3% more); threats of crime (1,136, or 12% more than in 2022, but almost 27% more than in 2021).
In many of these cases, the report adds, “minors linked to youth gangs are involved, the use of weapons being frequent, which increases the dangerousness of the actions and the risk of producing more serious results.” an increase in registrations for rioting (46.21% more). Similar are those of membership in a criminal organization (46 versus 44), unlawful possession of weapons (99 versus 104) and injuries related to the use of weapons or dangerous instruments (368 versus 375).
“Due to the tension linked to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, attacks against places frequented by Jews have increased”
Already abundant in Latino gangs, the number of legal proceedings has also increased. Preliminarily, the prosecution explains: “Although the obvious increase in the activity of these gangs is obvious, there is an enormous difficulty when registering issues, so that any conclusion supposed to be drawn from the figures obtained by statistics will always have a very approximate but not exact value.
This is due, he assures, to the fact that in this type of crime there is a significant part “black figure” of crimes that go unreported, due to “the characteristics of the secret and violent actions of these gangs and also the fear and fear of the victims of suffering reprisals if they file a complaint”.
Menas
In 2023, 34 cases were processed (+70%, compared to 20 in 2022) whose perpetrators are indicatively members of one of these criminal organizations, which crystallized into 16 indictments (7 in 2022 and 4 in 2021) and 6 trials (with conviction in 5 and in 4 of them for the offense of belonging to a criminal organization). 32 active members were accused: 13 from Dominican Don’t Play, 1 from Ñeta, 12 Trinitarios (one of them with the leadership position), 5 Latin King and 1 Forty Two.
Even if protection orders for minors are decreasing, due to the explosion in 2022 of refugees due to the invasion of Ukraine, many cases processed in the last quarter of 2023 correspond to the “massive arrival” of unaccompanied immigrants to the Community of Madrid.
Not only arrivals from the Canary Islands, but, “in a much less controlled way”, via Barajas airport, flights from Casablanca (Morocco) and to different countries in South America, without asking transit visa: “This favored the irregular immigration and the increase in arrivals of people who say they lack papers and who, once in the transit zone, do not continue their journey, but request asylum in our country. The vast majority come from Senegal and Somalia and They flew with Kenyan passportswhich they subsequently no longer had in their possession, and who, according to their statements, collected false data (such as age), many of them declaring that they were minors and lacking documents to prove it .
“This situation has led to a real collapse, not only at the airport, but also in the initial reception facilities,” explains the prosecutor’s report. It started from 213 determination procedures from age in 2022 to 404 years in 2023; 203 during the months of November and December, leaving 94 awaiting opening on December 31, because it was not possible to cope with the avalanche of daily files of this nature (more than 25 on some days).
This also has repercussions in the health field, where medical examinations deemed necessary to determine the age of undocumented immigrants must be carried out, with considerable delays in the radiology department of the Gregorio Marañón Hospitaland which even suppose the suspension of tests planned for geriatric and pediatric patients.
