Up to 18 months in prison for petty theft in cases of multiple recidivism

MADRID, 29 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The reform of the Penal Code that provides prison sentences of up to 18 months for petty theft in case of recidivism has entered into force this Monday. It was approved by the Cortes a month ago thanks to an amendment promoted by the PDeCat, and agreed with the PSOE, which was introduced in the Organic Law project to facilitate access to financial information.

According to its wording in the BOE, of July 29, article 234, section 2, is modified to give "an adequate response to cases of multiple recidivism". It is explained that the reform is "necessary" because, although the previous regulation already provided for an aggravated modality for recidivism in theft, according to the Supreme Court's doctrine, this was intended to punish thefts that exceeded 400 euros.

This interpretation of the Supreme Court --it is indicated in the BOE-- supposed in fact that the minor crimes of theft that are committed in a multi-repeat offender "do not have a sufficient criminal response, despite the fact that they are crimes that are being the object of a growing concern for directly affecting not only tourism, trade and the economy in general, but also the very safety of citizens".

With the reform that comes into force today, cases of minor theft not exceeding 400 euros can be sanctioned more severely when they occur multiple times.

The BOE states that in order to avoid the disproportionate leap in sentence criticized by the Supreme Court, it is decided to increase the sentence for these crimes of minor theft, but without reaching the aggravated prison sentence of article 235.1 of the Penal Code.

Thus, in cases of petty theft or less than 400 euros, the penalty is increased provided that the perpetrator is a repeat offender and the total amount of what was stolen, including previous theft crimes, exceeds 400 euros.

In that case, the penalty imposed is not the aggravated type but the basic one, which is imprisonment from 6 to 18 months. "In this way, it is possible to give cases of multiple recidivism a more dissuasive criminal response and adjusted to the seriousness of the conduct, without incurring a disproportionate increase in the penalty," says the heading of the BOE.

When the amendment went ahead in Congress, in May of this year, the PDeCAT pointed out that this modification had already been "promised" by several ministers of Justice and the Interior because "it has a high impact on the commerce sector, the restoration , tourism and the safety of all citizens".

In his opinion, the legal change will allow "increasing the intimidating and dissuasive capacity of the Penal Code" and "will provide the administrations with more tools to fight against multiple recidivism in petty theft."

"One can have the feeling that the people who commit these thefts stop them today and go out into the street tomorrow, and continue this activity almost as a 'modus vivendi,'" said deputy Genís Boadella, head of Justice affairs at the time. PDeCAT.