The number of sexual crimes committed by minors in the Balearic Islands soared last year, with figures quadrupling the statistics of previous years. In 2021, 475 judicial proceedings were initiated in the islands against adolescents, according to data from the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office. In addition, the archipelago is the autonomous community with the highest rates of juveniles convicted, with 21.7 cases per 1,000 inhabitants, according to the report published yesterday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
Data on sexual crimes is “striking”
The delegated prosecutor of the Juvenile Section of the Balearic Islands, José DÃaz Cappa, regrets in his annual report the upward trend of serious crimes committed by minors in the islands throughout 2021. The rise is “especially striking” in sexual crimes again freedom and indemnity, with 438 abuses and 37 assaults. These data are four times the cases recorded in previous years: in 2020, 168 criminal proceedings were initiated for this type of offenses, while in 2019 there were 117.
There have also been increases in crimes against life and physical integrity committed by minors. The Prosecutor’s Office recorded six attempted homicides, when in the previous fiscal year there was one, and 412 crimes of injury, compared to the preceding 345. Cases of intra-family abuse – which include gender violence and aggression against family members – grew with 390 criminal proceedings opened. This is 30 more than in 2020.
Meanwhile, crimes against property committed by adolescents remained stable, with 156 robberies with force, 139 robberies with violence or intimidation and 350 thefts, according to the statistics of the Public Ministry.
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