La ley de responsabilidad penal del menor y el papel del psicólogo y la mediación en la ley 5/2000

Resumo

On January of 2001, the new Minors’ Penal Law became effective. This Law represents a remarkable difference in the penal treatment of youths. The new Law is based on the fundamental principle of preserving the minor’s interest as far as possible, avoiding the negative effects that can derive. The main difference with the penal treatment of adults is, no doubt, the sanctioning-educational nature of the procedure, so that its penal nature is more flexible, so as to meet the minor’s needs. For this purpose, a set of professionals, which is integrated not only by jurists but also by educators and psychologists, takes part. Their main function is to propose the measures to be imposed by the Judge. These measures, which are different from the punishments imposed on adults, are flexible, so that they are adapted as much as possible to the circumstances and educational needs of the minor. These measures are so flexible that they can even be suspended or substituted. They go from a simple Judge’s reprimand to internment in a closed regime, this latter only prevailing in cases of notable dangerousness, especially when there has been violence, intimidation, or danger to others. One of the more novel measures that has become particularly relevant under this law is mediation. It has been considerably promoted in the last few years, and the possibility of its becoming the base of the intervention system with minor offenders is under consideration, partly to seek viable alternatives of the models of protection and justice that frequently do not seem to provide effective solutions and, to a great extent, also because this system grants true protagonism in the process to the victim and the community. To the offending minor, it provides a real possibility of accepting the responsibility of the damage caused, acquiring direct knowledge of the impact that they have had.