Juvenile Detention: Legal Rights and Procedures
Juvenile Detention: Rights and Procedures
When a minor is detained, the authorities and officials involved must act in a manner that is least harmful to the minor. They are required to inform the minor, in clear and understandable language, of the facts alleged against them and their rights, especially those listed in Article 520 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPP).
Notification and Legal Representation
- Authorities must immediately notify the minor’s legal representatives and the prosecution of the detention and the place of custody.
- If the minor is a foreign national residing outside Spain, the consular authorities or the minor’s representative must be notified.
- Any declaration made by the minor must be in the presence of their lawyer and those exercising parental authority, unless circumstances indicate otherwise.
- In the latter case, the declaration will be conducted in the presence of a prosecutor other than the instructor.
- The detained minor is entitled to a confidential interview with their lawyer before and at the end of the statement-taking process.
Conditions of Detention
- During detention, the minor must be kept in appropriate units, separate from those used for adults.
- They must receive the necessary care, protection, and social, psychological, medical, and physical welfare.
- Minors will remain in police custody for the shortest time essential.
- Detention facilities will maintain a confidential record book containing:
- The minor’s identity details.
- Circumstances of the arrest, reasons, and the authority that ordered it.
- Day and time of admission, transfer, or release.
- The identity of the person guarding the minor.
- Details of the notification to parents or guardians and their rights.
- The data in this register will be exclusively available to the prosecution and the judicial authority.
Physical Restraint and Identification
Caching and physical assurance (shackles) of detained juveniles may only be carried out when strictly necessary and proportionate as a security measure.
When detaining a minor, authorities may take their fingerprints and photographs for the police report and the prosecutor’s investigation. These will be stored in the identification database.
Police records containing the identity and other private information of minors will be strictly confidential and may not be consulted by third parties.
Identification Parade
If necessary, an identification parade may be conducted only with the order or authorization of the prosecutor or the juvenile judge. It must be conducted in units or groups of minors at the headquarters of the competent public prosecutor or judicial authority. The lineup may be composed of minors or adults.
Duration of Detention and Habeas Corpus
The detention of a minor by police officers may not exceed the time strictly necessary for investigations aimed at clarifying the facts. In any event, within 24 hours, the detained minor must be released or placed at the disposal of the prosecution.
When a minor is placed at the disposal of the prosecution, the competent judge will resolve the detention within 48 hours.
The judge responsible for a writ of habeas corpus in relation to a minor will be the instructional judge of the place where the minor is deprived of liberty, or the place where the arrest occurred, or, in their absence, the place where the latest news about the minor’s whereabouts was received.
Any reports made by the judicial police involving minors must be sent as soon as possible to both the prosecutor and the juvenile court with jurisdiction.