Skip to content
Government bill (organic law)

Bill amending Organic Law 5/2000 on the criminal liability of minors

File 121/000041 · tabled on November 22, 2024

What it proposes

To give the Juvenile Court judge the age-determination procedure where there are reasonable doubts about whether a detained person is an adult or a minor, today decided by prosecutorial decree.

Statute affected: Organic Law 5/2000Statute affected: Civil Procedure Act

Parliamentary stage

Current stage
Justice Committee — amendments stage
Checked on
File number
121/000041

The stage shown is the one recorded in the Congress open data on the date indicated. A bill in progress is not law: until it is eventually published in the official state gazette, the text in force set out below applies.

What would change, section by section

On the left, the text in force checked against the consolidated version; on the right, what the tabled text says.

Art. 2 LO 5/2000

Text in force

Three subsections: the Juvenile Court judge’s jurisdiction over the facts and enforcement of judgments, over the related civil liability, and the territorial rule. It says nothing about age determination.

Text as tabled

A new subsection 2 bis would give the Juvenile Court judge the age-determination procedure in chapter V bis of title I of book IV of the Civil Procedure Act where there are reasonable doubts about a detainee being an adult or a minor.

Art. 17.5 LO 5/2000

Text in force

Once the detainee is handed to the Public Prosecution Service, it decides within forty-eight hours on release, discontinuance or opening proceedings, bringing the minor before the Juvenile Court judge.

Text as tabled

A second paragraph would be added: where there are reasonable doubts about the detainee’s age, the investigating prosecutor would apply for the age-determination procedure before the competent Juvenile Court judge.

Régimen transitorio y derogación

Text in force

Subsection 9 of section 2 of the Regulation implementing Organic Law 5/2000 (Royal Decree 1774/2004) currently governs these situations.

Text as tabled

Pending files and the review of prosecutorial decrees would pass to the courts and that subsection 9 would be repealed. The final provision sets entry into force six months after publication.

Who it affects

Detainees without reliable documentation of their age and their lawyers: whether the case goes to the juvenile or the ordinary jurisdiction would be decided by a court.

Source: the text published in the official parliamentary gazette and the Congress of Deputies open data on legislative initiatives. Informational content; it does not replace the study of a specific case.

Do you need specialised legal assistance?

The judicial system is complex. We have the criminal-law specialisation and technical resources required to take on the defence.