Abstract

MONTERO HERNANZ, Tomás. Juvenile delinquency in Spain (2007-2012). Rev. Crim. [online]. 2014, vol.56, n.2, pp.247-261. ISSN 1794-3108.

The claim regarding the need for reliable statistics on juvenile justice has been constantly repeated by international bodies. In Spain, from the coming into effect in 2001 of the Juvenile Criminal Responsibility Act, while public opinion nurtures the perception that this kind of criminality has been growing exponentially and minors are falling very easily into an early initiation into delinquency, this fact is being associated with the rising immigration rates. The objective of this paper is getting closer to juvenile criminality by examining data provided by the National Institute of Statistics, in order to verify the rights and wrongs of these social allegations. For this purpose, a quantitative analysis is made of the number of sentenced youngsters, their infringements and breaches and the measures imposed on them, as well as the criminality rate, without disregarding the variables relating to gender and aliens' origin. The results have only partially confirmed the social perception of a seldom serious criminal activity that is not increasingly precocious, as well as where and when it is not right to associate insecurity with the presence of immigrants. The complexity of this matter cannot be explained from specific situations, and Spain's criminological and sociological reality must be taken into account.

Keywords : Young offender/underage law transgressor; indictment/court conviction; juvenile criminal; statistics on minors; crime measurement.

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