La despenalización de las faltas: entre la agravación de las penas y el aumento de la represión administrativa

The withdrawal of Book III of the Penal Code, which deals with misdemeanours, is one of the most remarkable aspects of the draft amendment to the Penal Code approved by the Council of Ministers on 20th September 2013. This paper analyses whether we can speak of the decriminalisation of misdemeanours given their widespread transformation into minor and less serious offences, it questions the procedural consequences of the reform, it reveals the reasons that in their day justified misdemeanours being introduced into historical criminal law and examines whether these reasons are no longer valid, which would lead to the elimination of misdemeanours. At the same time, it contrasts the alleged effectiveness and promptness provided by the sanctioning administrative law with the speed of criminal law in the prosecution of minor offences, in order to clarify whether the pragmatic criteria claimed by the prelegislative body in support of the reform are justified or not. Lastly, the paper examines the reasons that suggest that the elimination of misdemeanours is a milestone on the road to greater penal and administrative repression, which does not involve a decrease in the ius puniendi that hangs over citizens.