Interior attributes to the political messages xenophobes the decrease of complaints for hate crimes | Spain

Provisional statistics on hate crimes in 2024 reflect a significant reduction in complaints from the previous year. Compared to 2,268 crimes or incidents of hate of those who The security forces in 2023 had news « It accounted for a 21.3% rise compared to the previous twelve months, » the year passed 1,955, a fact that implies a significant decrease of 13.8%. In a type of crime in which all experts consider that there is a very high infradenion rate (different studies conducted in the EU and Spain suggest that only one in ten people know the police the incidents that it suffers), this decline concerns those responsible for the Ministry of Interior, who have begun to analyze their causes.

Interior sources show their conviction that much of the fall is motivated by the messages of some political parties that in recent years have normalized certain hate speeches towards groups such as immigrants or minors arriving in Spain. They consider that « the social pressure » that these manifestations imply « deter of the complaint, » they add.

Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, during the presentation on Monday of the III Action Plan to fight hate crimes, has influenced that idea during his speech. « We live times where hate disguises itself as legitimate discourse and where the extreme right intends to normalize discrimination with the false and manipulat promise to protect some supposed values ​​and symbols, » said Marlaska. « We attend with stupor to statements from political representatives who, without any shame, criminalize migrants, cross out children from criminals and suspect any trace of diversity, » added the minister without alluding to any concrete political formation, although in clear reference to Vox and certain leaders of the PP. The bulk of Hate crimes It is still related to racism and xenophobia, followed by distance by discrimination due to sexual orientation or gender identity.

It is not the only worrying reading that interior experts make of the provisional data known on Monday. The other is the finding that more and more minors are committed by these types of crimes. This trend is not new and, in fact, it already emerged in the statistics of 2023, when one in five investigated was under 18. Then, this group stood as the second age strip with more offenders, only behind those between 26 and 40 years. Now its presence among the authors has increased, although interior has not provided specific data in this regard.

Interior will face these changes detected with the new plan to fight this type of crime, presented in a public act by the minister on Monday, and that, among other novelties, aims to enhance the teams against the violent extremism (EVO) of the National Police and those of response to the hate crimes (round) of the Civil Guard with more effective. These specialized agents will also expand their field of action by also assuming investigations for the infractions committed in the sports field, especially in the football fields and their surroundings, to expedite the police response when these facts occur. Great-Marlaska has shown his « concern » for this phenomenon on Monday. « We do not want the hate speeches) to be normalized (in these areas), » he added.

The increase in the template also aims to help track the hate speeches in networks, one of the areas in which they occur, as explained by the head of the National Office to Fight the Crimes of Hate, Tomás Fernández. Along the same lines, Interior will create a new suprastructure that will be in charge of coordinating, precisely, the work of the Evo and Los Red, with the objective, on the one hand, of sharing information and, on the other, “crossing data in a more effective way”, something that the minister has highlighted. With this, it is also intended to detect the presence of criminal groups and repeat aggressors. With the same purpose, Interior will replace the so -called « polarization indicators » with « motivation indicators » to facilitate agents that serve the possible victims to identify more quickly « the facts that can be considered incidents, crimes or hate speeches. » This change will contribute, according to the minister, to an improvement in the work of « intelligence and analysis. »

It will not be the only change in the attention to the victims provided by the new plan. Interior intends that people who come to denounce are facilitated “a resource map” so that they can be treated. « It will be simple and updated information about the media at your disposal, » said Grande-Marlaska, who has compared it with what victims of gender violence receive. The modifications also seek to facilitate that there are cases of aporophobia (I hate the poor), whose victims are very reluctant to denounce. “They are undervalued and normalize it. Or they have a hard time denouncing because if they leave their few belongings they lose everything they have in life. That is why they try to facilitate the complaint, causing the police to collect the complaints In situ”, Explains Pilar Minuesa Head of the statistical system and victim care area.