Two out of ten hate crimes committed in Spain were against the sexual orientation and identity of the victims. This was reported this Wednesday by the General Council of the Judiciary in a study on racism, xenophobia, LGTBIfobia and other forms of intolerance, the result of an agreement between the Prosecutor's Office and several ministries.
The data analyzes hate crimes committed between 2002 and 2021. Secondly, 18.8% of the victims suffered some aggression due to their ethnic or racial origin; followed by 15.3% who were victims of hate crimes because of their ideology; and 10% who did so because of their nationality.
These and other data are included in the study Analysis of cases and judgments on racism, xenophobia, LGTBIfobia and other forms of intolerance 2018-2022, presented this Wednesday by the president of the General Council of the Judiciary, Vicente Guilarte, in an event led by the member José Antonio Ballestero.
The study, prepared by professors Andrea Giménez-Salinas Framis, from the Pontificia de Comillas University, and Jon-Mirena Landa Gorostiza, from the University of the Basque Country, has been carried out within the framework of the agreement of cooperation in the fight against racism, xenophobia, LGTBIfobia and other forms of intolerance signed by the CGPJ, the State Attorney General's Office, the Center for Legal Studies and the ministries of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, Interior, Labor and Social Economy and Culture and Sports.
The authors point out the importance of knowing precisely the reality of these criminal behaviors in order to prevent them, since they cause a “strong divisive impact on coexistence due to their enormous potential for poisoning the peaceful coexistence between different groups.”
There is also a legal mandate whereby Law 15/2022, of July 12, integral for equal treatment and non-discrimination, entrusts the CGPJ and the Prosecutor's Office with the study of judicial and administrative resolutions.
The analysis of judgments issued between 2018 and 2022 and provided by the CENDOJ allows visualizing the map of hatred according to the type of crime, the target groups of these aggressive behaviors, the most punished behaviors and the profile of victims and aggressors, among other variables.
Less frequent are discriminatory acts motivated by the victim's disability (6.3%), their religion or beliefs (2.8%), anti-Semitism (2.3%), anti-Gypsyism (1.7%) and aporophobia (0.6%).
The geographical distribution of hate crimes is uneven, with Catalonia being the Autonomous Community where they are most frequently recorded (42% of the cases analyzed). It is followed by Madrid (12.8%), Castilla y León and the Canary Islands (7%), the Valencian Community (6.4%) and Andalusia (5.25%).
By provinces, the highest number of cases analyzed occurred in Barcelona (38%), Madrid (12.8%), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (6.4%), Valladolid (5.2%), Tarragona and Valencia (4.1%) and Navarra (2.9%).
The urban public road is the most common scenario for hate crimes (31.4%), especially those motivated by anti-Gypsyism, religion, sexual orientation and nationality. Secondly, there is the virtual space or telecommunications (telephone, messages and social networks), with 18.9% of the cases, related to a greater extent with the anti-Semitism and with the ideology, nationality and sexual orientation of the victim.
Eight out of ten hate crimes (79% of cases) were committed in person, while virtual attacks are at 18% of the cases under study.
When the event occurs in person, psychological violence is the most prevalent (70%) through intimidation or threats. In the virtual environment, the medium most frequently used is social networks (16.4%).
Men lead hate crimes
The information on the accused has been obtained from the analysis of 296 individuals who, in 70% of the cases, act individually. 86% are men, compared to 14% of women, and, almost the same proportion, 88% are of legal age and 12% are minors.
Although the exact age of the accused does not appear in most of the resolutions analyzed (the data relating to the majority or minority of age does appear), the study can conclude that it ranges between 13 and 77 years, with an average of 32.3 years and the most common age, 21 years.
The data on the nationality of the accused appears only in half of the facts under study (48%). Within that number, 79.7% have Spanish nationality.
In relation to those cases collected in the judgments from which data could be extracted on the membership of the accused to some group or collective, the study indicates that the majority identifies with a far-right ideology (54.3%). They are followed by religious extremist groups (15.2%), far-left groups (13%), pro-ETA groups (6.5%) and ultra-Catalan independentists (4.3%).
The victims
67.4% of the cases studied affect a single victim, while in 23.6% there are two. Six out of ten victims (64%) are men and nine out of ten (89%) are of legal age, with an average of 30.7 years.
Contrary to what happens with the accused, most of the victims (83.3%) are foreigners and come mainly from Latin American countries (Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia) and from African countries (Morocco and Senegal).
The remaining 16.7% are Spanish. 68.7% of the victims belong to a specific group.
The most representative category is that of ethnic, religious or vulnerable minorities, to which 56.1% of the victims belong. Behind, the group of foreigners (33.8%) and political groups (5%).
Within the first category, 64.1% of the victims belong to the LGTBIQ collective; the cause of discrimination is racial origin for 16.7%; for 12.8% it is the belonging to a minority ethnic group (especially the Gypsy) and for 6.4%, the disability.
65% of convictions
In 65% of the cases analyzed, the judgments - issued by provincial courts (81%), criminal courts (6.2%), Supreme Court (4.5%), National Court (2.8%) and juvenile courts (0.6%) - contain a conviction.
The resolution time (the time elapsed between the date of the events and that of the resolution) is on average one to three years in 71% of the cases. Ideological motivation is the one that concentrates the highest number of convictions (18.4%), while the most frequent acquittals have to do with discriminatory acts due to the sexual orientation and identity of the victim (26.2%) and belonging to a race or ethnicity (23.8%).
The aggravating circumstance of art. 22.4 of the Penal Code (“committing the crime for racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Gypsy or other kind of discrimination referring to the ideology, religion or beliefs of the victim, the ethnicity, race or nation to which he/she belongs, his/her sex, age, sexual orientation or gender identity, gender reasons, aporophobia or social exclusion, the disease he/she suffers or his/her disability, regardless of whether such conditions”) has been applied in 16% of the cases, to a greater extent in cases of hatred due to the sexual orientation or identity of the victim (22.7%), racial or ethnic origin (18.7%) and political ideology (15.3%).
The most frequent crimes contemplated in the analyzed judgments are the crimes of incitement to hatred, violence or discrimination of art. 510 of the Penal Code (what is called hate speech), which represent 62% of the total. They are followed by the crimes of injuries of arts. 147 and 148, with 10.6% and those of degrading treatment of art. 173.1, with 10.2 percent.
Among the hate crimes themselves (that is, without counting those of hate speech and the aggravating circumstance), the most frequent are those committed against the moral integrity of the victim, provided for in art. 173.1 of the CP and which represent 44.4%. In these crimes, seven out of ten defendants (69.7%) are minors. Adult defendants prevail in hate speech crimes, with 62.8%.
The penalties
In a third of the matters analyzed (33.3%), the judicial body imposed prison sentences, this measure being the most frequent, with an average duration of 1 year, 1 month and 4 days.
The second place is occupied by fines (23%) and disqualification from passive suffrage (20.3%). To a lesser extent, special disqualification penalties (12.5% of cases) and prohibition of approaching and communicating with the victim or the injured parties (7.7%), among others, were imposed.