Spain

Abstract

Crime and justice in Spain reflect its history, geography and political development. During the period of transition to democracy in the 1970s and early 1980s, crime was not the issue as much as the development of a criminal justice system that would protect the rights of the accused and the humane treatment of those incarcerated. Basque terrorism monopolized the attention of the government and the public. Similarly today, Spaniards consider unemployment and terrorism to be much more important social problems than non-political forms of crime. The country has enjoyed relatively low and stable crime rates over the past decade. However, concern for victims and the rise of law and order discourse in political spheres mean that crime issues are now placed on the public agenda. Spanish criminology - energetic, dispersed among disciplines, and increasingly empirical - is slowly becoming institutionalized.