The reform of the 'yes is yes' proposed by Podemos corrects some penalty reductions but maintains others

• Coalition Podemos and PSOE launch a war for the 'purple' amendments to the 'only yes is yes': "They do not solve the problem"
• Justice The reform that seeks the support of Podemos and PSOE supposes even harsher penalties than before the 'yes is yes'

Unidas Podemos' proposal to reform its own yes-yes law seeks to toughen sentences for sexual assault in cases where physical violence or intimidation concur. These circumstances would act as an aggravating factor and would increase the penalties provided, in some cases even more than before the yes is yes.

But at the same time, the proposed changes do not touch some cases of sexual assaults that were lowered with the law promoted by the Ministry of Equality that and

led to numerous reductions in final sentences. Such cases would continue to be punished more lightly than before the reforms.

The prison figures contemplated in the amendments presented yesterday by Podemos are the same as last Thursday

CKD

and

Bildu

They led to the

. They differ, on the other hand, from those which the

PSOE

presented to the Lower House with the intention that the reductions of yes is yes will not be perpetuated, something that can only be resolved by raising the penalties again.

The PSOE proposes to do so by returning to the structure prior to the reform of yes is yes, although without touching the new definition of consent or recovering the division between abuses and aggressions. Unidas Podemos argues that this undermines the importance of consent by placing violence or intimidation at the heart of the crime. On the other hand, the proposal of the purples is that violence or intimidation be considered an aggravating circumstance, and therefore an element external to the essence of the crime. That way, consent would remain unscathed.

Regardless of how they affect consent, the practical consequences of the two systems differ. In essence, the socialist proposal returns to the penalties that applied until last October. The basic crime of rape – sexual assault with violence and penetration – would return to the range of six to 12 years, which the yes is yes had left in four to 12. Here the solution of Podemos, ERC and Bildu supposes that the minimum rises to seven years, and the maximum to 15, figures that had not been so high since the current one was approved.

in 1996.

Legal sources critical of the proposal of Podemos consider that, in several cases, it implies "disproportionate" penalties. And this despite the insistence of Podemos in minimizing the importance of sentence reductions – in addition to attributing them to judges. Another example of this would be that of sexual assaults with violence and without penetration: before the yes is yes it entailed a range of one to five years in prison, which Equality left in one to four and that now, with the amendments of Podemos, would bounce up to two to eight years in prison.

The position of the PP

Conversely, the amendments tabled yesterday would keep the sentences low for

in other cases. Legal sources critical of the formula of Podemos consider that this reflects a "lack of coherence" of the reform, compared to the socialist option of returning to the previous situation preserving elements of the

. The proposal of the

PP

To reform the law is close to the text of the Socialists, which

They have already announced that they will support.

It would be the case of sexual assaults with penetration and without violence – formerly called abuse – to children under 16 years of age. The eight-year low was lowered to six with the

, which led to numerous reductions in final sentences. That minimum of six years does not rise in the Equality proposal, so it would continue to be the penalty from which the new sentences would start.

The Ministry of Equality maintains that this will not be the case, because the new definition of consent will make judges almost never understand that it is a consensual relationship. Thus, the penalty would actually start from above, from the same eight years as before. However, in the six months of application of the only yes is yes law that has not occurred and the courts have applied the change and subtracted two years from many convictions that were final.

In the area of minors under 16 - the age at which sexual consent is fixed - the same sources maintain that poor wording would prevent the aggravating factor of violence from being applied to sexual assaults. To do so would mean twice assessing that circumstance prejudicial to the accused, something that is not allowed.

Another consequence of the only yes law is yes that the proposal of Podemos does not address is the reduction of penalties for repeat offenders in crimes of sexual assault with violence or intimidation. The amendments do not change the fact that their sentences are between six months and two and a half years lighter than before the Criminal Code was touched.