The punitive turn in Spain. Is the welfare state able to resist it?

In recent years there is a tendency to carry out penal reforms in Spain very often, as it also happens in other countries. During its twenty years of existence, the Spanish penal code has already been modified more than 30 times, on an average of more than one penal reform by year. Most of them have increased punitiveness by widening the categories of crimes, raising the penalties, and making the penitentiary system less flexible, especially for some criminal offences, all leading to a very high prison population. Although there are no alarming crime figures in Spain and experts consider it appropriate to decrease punitive pressure in some areas, it seems that this could only happen for utilitarian reasons, within a context of economic crisis that makes it unsustainable to maintain such a high prison population. The investigation has shown that there are many processes and practices indicating that the law and order model is consolidating itself in the Spanish penal system, leading to a punitive turn. Nevertheless this process has a different intensity at each phase, being stronger at the legislative stage and softer in the penitentiary enforcement phase. One of the main conclusions is, therefore, that the designed instrument is ideal for measuring the degree of penetration of the model throughout the system. The most striking results of the research will be presented at the III Scientific Congress on the Law of The Philippines & Spain, and some proposals to resist the punitive turn will be made.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Some factors influencing the legislative processes in Spain: supranational obligations and pressure groups

In Spain, as in many other countries, the legislative initiative is influenced by several factors, beyond the actual need for criminal protection. Especially some areas are prone to populist dynamics and likely to incorporate the discourses of pressure groups. On the other hand, Spain has assumed some supranational commitments that determine legislative processes, where two situations can be distinguished: obligations that must be transposed into national legislation, and those that serve as a pretext for the national legislator to carry out broader reforms than the ones required by international standards. On the first issue, this research will show that some Spanish criminal policies are based on rather emotional and electoral, than rational arguments. These decisions often focus on the short-term view, thus justifying punitive measures or inaction in certain areas. Regarding the second issue, an exploration of the 30 reforms of the current Spanish Penal Code has been carried out, in order to identify and analyse references to international instruments (conventions, jurisprudence of international courts, European or supranational legislation, and the European Court of Human Rights).Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Challenges of New Technologies in the Field of Criminal Law. The Protection of the Right to Privacy in the Spanish Penal Code.

The use of new technologies has become widespread in the last decade, giving rise to various risks associated with the transfer of personal data and the publication of sensitive material on social media. There are already several supranational instruments that seek to protect the citizens involved in this growing traffic of personal information and, especially, the most vulnerable people, such as minors, who are also the ones who make the most intense use of these new means of communication. In this sense, the configuration of the concept of privacy as a legal right has necessarily been influenced by these new social uses and supranational instruments. The researcher considers correct the decision to introduce sexting as a new criminal behaviour in the Penal Code in 2015, but questions the concrete manner in which it has been made. To this end, an updated review of the various options that our legal system already offered is made, assessing whether these legal options adequately addressed the new social needs and guidelines from jurisprudence and other supranational instruments. Some important issues emerge as to whether the principles of fragmentarity and subsidiarity may be violated, since the new article 197.7 of the Spanish Penal Code could refer to very varied behaviours and protect not only particularly vulnerable persons. In this sense, the research focuses on issues such as the concept of "seriousness" of the infringement of privacy, the possible reckless conduct of the victim, who hang over its own private material to third parties, the affection to other legal rights such as freedom and sexual indemnity, the possible problems of concurrent offences, etc.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Privacy and New Technologies in the Spanish Penal Code

New technologies have become widespread in recent years, generating a change in the way people communicate. This implies the emergence of new risks related to the growing tendency to share personal information on social networks. The holder of data risks losing control over them, especially when information is published or communicated to a third party. The unauthorized diffusion of private material previously received from the owner (sexting) has been recently incorporated to the Spanish Criminal Code. These conducts can also lead to committing crimes of blackmail, pornography, harassment, etc., and there is a high risk for the victim to be subject to humiliation and threats, affecting his or her social reputation, and even leading to mental health problems. After addressing in the first place the evolution of the right to privacy from jurisprudence and supranational instruments point of view, this research has questioned the decision of the Spanish legislator to criminalize sexting. The central element lies in the fact that it is the owner of the private material who first reveals it. It is interesting to analyze whether this initial cession may constitute a limit to the protection of this right, on the understanding that someone who freely decides to share certain areas of his or her intimate life is accepting the risk that such sensitive information will come to the attention of third persons. The research has attended to the principles of criminal law, and has criticized the legislative technique used, as there are numerous aspects that the criminal type does not resolve. However, it was necessary to cover a punitive gap, so, therefore, the decision to criminalize these behaviors is considered appropriate. Of course there are many aspects that need improvement, and empirical studies must be carried out in order to assess the effects of this new regulation.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Some features of the law and order model in Spain

This research is based on the hypothesis that law and order model is displacing the procedura justice system in Spain. After a thorough review of the international literature, one can observe that the traditional structure of the penal system does not seem to be capable of containing the new forms of crime. The new penal model assumes that public opinion is alarmed and unwilling to understand rational approaches to crime, so it will be likely to accept measures aimed at calming the fear of crime, through extensive control policies and penal tools to manage uncivil behavior. Objectives and methodology A measuring instrument has been developed to confirm this hypothesis, consisting of ten features that characterize the law and order model. This instrument has been used to identify examples of its ten features in the rules and practices developed at each phase of the Spanish criminal justice system. The analysis has focused specifically on public discourse about delinquency, criminal policy decisions, legislative processes, police routines, judicial dynamics, and prison system practices. Main results The investigation has shown that there are many processes and practices indicating that the law and order model is consolidating itself in the Spanish penal system. Nevertheless this process has a different intensity at each phase, being stronger at the legislative stage and softer in the penitentiary enforcement phase. One of the main conclusions is, therefore, that the designed instrument is ideal for measuring the degree of penetration of the model throughout the system. Some of the most striking results of the reasearch will be presented at the conference. Finally, proposals arise that could prevent the new model is fully seated in our criminal justice system, finding that the trend toward more severe penalties shown already unsustainable.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Nonequilibrium electron charging in carbon-nanotube-based molecular bridges

We evidence the importance of electron charging under nonequilibrium conditions for carbon-nanotube-based molecular bridges, using a self-consistent Green's function method with an extended Huckel Hamiltonian and a three-dimensional Poisson solver. Our analysis demonstrates that such feature is highly dependent on the chirality of the carbon nanotube as well as on the type of the contact metal, conditioning in a nongeneralized way the system's conduction mechanism. Based on its impact on transport, we argue that self-consistency is essential for the current-voltage calculations of semiconducting nanotubes, whereas less significant in the case of metallic ones.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure