The Government will change the law of only yes is yes after more than 200 reductions in sentences

There will be changes in the law of only yes is yes. The new norm will be reformed by the Government at the initiative of the Ministry of Equality after the judges have reduced more than 200 sentences in the lowest sections of the sentences when applying it. The reversal will take place in the coming weeks, as announced this Saturday The vanguard and has been able to confirm elDiario.es.

The pressure of the socialist wing of the Government on Unidas Podemos has been constant since the first downward revisions of the courts were known and finally both parties have agreed to agree to changes that try to avoid the undesired effects of the norm. The task is complex because not even within the coalition there is a clear conviction that any rectification that is put in place will alleviate the reductions in sentences in the short term, since in the Spanish penal system judges have the obligation to apply always apply the rule that is most beneficial to the prisoner (of all those that have been in force). In some sections of the minimum sentences (not so in the most serious crimes) the last text approved by Congress is more benevolent than the previous ones.

As La Vanguardia has advanced, it will be the Ministry of Equality, led by Irene Montero, who is in charge of changing the norm, in coordination with Vice President Yolanda Díaz.

Government sources have confirmed to this newsroom that the decision to touch the text has been taken after “noting some unwanted effects of the rule.” “We are aware of and share the social concern regarding this issue and responsibly addressing this situation requires careful attention, because it is complex from a technical point of view.” The Executive alleges that “very serious and rigorous work is being done, since the first judicial decisions were known, to guarantee that it does not happen again, solving the problems detected in the future.” In this task, the same sources insist, “the two parties of the coalition government will be involved, in full harmony: “We are aware of this situation and we want to contribute together to resolve it by working hand in hand with the Minister of Equality at all times” .

The drip in the courts, where more than 250 sentences have already been reduced, including some that have freed some convicted of sexual abuse, was becoming a serious problem for the Government at the worst possible moment, when a long electoral campaign began. , first with regional and municipal elections, and later with general elections at the end of the year.

The Organic Law of Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom, called the law of only yes is yes’, was approved in August, after a long process that focused attention on the reform of the Criminal Code or prostitution, which was finally left out of the text due to discrepancies between the groups. The criminal part of the norm, which ends with the distinction between assault and sexual abuse, a crime the latter that disappears, is accompanied by measures of prevention, care and reparation for the victims.

The Government continues to affirm that it is “a good law and a conquest of the feminist movement” and recalls that it was created to “protect victims more and classify sexist attitudes as a crime” that previously did not have a criminal reproach.

The regulation, which was finally approved by 14 parties, from the PSOE to the UP, passing through Ciudadanos and Esquerra, has been the object of harsh criticism from the right since the first revisions of downward penalties were known, in the most low sentences. Both PP and Vox have directly accused the Government of leaving rapists and sex offenders on the streets.

The Government has already tried to appease the controversy by introducing an amendment to the explanatory statement of the Criminal Code, which according to the jurists consulted cannot prevent the reduction of sentences that the courts are applying.

The criteria of the judges varies depending on each case, but after two months of sentences it is now possible to group them into blocks: those that included minimum sentences for criminals, those that imposed maximum sentences, those that include intermediate sentences and finally those that examine various crimes in competition. All, the Supreme Court has made clear, must be reviewed but that does not imply that all are lowered.