Bill to remove reviewable life imprisonment from the Criminal Code

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The bill, introduced by the Basque Parliamentary Group (EAJ-PNV), seeks to remove reviewable life imprisonment from the Criminal Code. Its authors see it as disguised life imprisonment, contrary to the Constitution and to the mandate that sentences aim at social reintegration.
2. The bill would delete several provisions of the Criminal Code governing reviewable life imprisonment, including Article 33(2)(a), Article 70(4), Article 76(1)(e), and Articles 78 bis, 92 and 140.
3. It would also change the sentences for serious crimes such as killing the King, a foreign head of state, or terrorism offenses. Instead of reviewable life imprisonment, fixed prison terms of ten to forty years would apply depending on the case.
4. The rules for classifying inmates in the third grade and for prison leave would be adjusted, with prior prison terms of fifteen or twenty years, and leave eligibility after eight or twelve years. The law would take effect the day after its publication in the Official State Gazette.

Who it affects

• People convicted of very serious crimes, such as terrorism or offenses against the Crown, whose sentences and prison classification rules would change.: Reviewable life imprisonment would no longer be possible, and fixed prison terms would apply.
• Judges and courts, who would apply the new sentences and requirements for the third grade.: They would need a favorable individualized prognosis of social reintegration to grant the third grade, and would respect minimum terms.
• The King, the Queen, the Princes of Asturias and foreign heads of state, whose criminal protection remains but with limited prison terms.: Killing them would carry prison terms of twenty to thirty-five years, depending on the case.

Words worth knowing

Prisión permanente revisable

Reviewable life imprisonment: a prison sentence with no fixed end, reviewable only after serving certain years; the bill sees it as disguised life imprisonment.

Tercer grado

Third grade: the most flexible prison regime, allowing broader time outside prison before the sentence ends.

Proposición de Ley Orgánica

A bill to amend an organic law, such as the Criminal Code; it is not yet approved.

Exposición de motivos

The opening section of the text explaining the reasons for the reform.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries