Spain

Abstract

Because of the political situation in Spain during most of the twentieth century, it was not until 2000 that the country had a juvenile justice regulation. The 2000 Juvenile Crime Act (JCA) had adecriminalizationanddeinstitutionalizationapproach, and assumed a dual model that took into account the principles of developmental criminology. Although the trend in juvenile delinquency cases has decreased slightly in recent years in Spain, the level of intervention grew during the same period through reforms of the law. However, these reforms turned out to be more symbolic than applied. The welfare professionals implement the intervention programs imposed by the judges, but most of the intervention programs do not refer to theories or rehabilitation models, hence it is very difficult to evaluate them. Anyhow, the sparse country data available on recidivism are optimistic. Hence it can be said that rehabilitation of juvenile offenders in Spain is in transition.