An attractive sum of money, a gift, or a favor in return only Sending an erotic photo or video to a stranger. 2.5% of young Spaniards say they received this type of offer at some point while they were minors. This means one in 40 young people. And 15% say they know of cases where minors have participated in such activities. Social media is increasingly filled with these lures and easy advertisements, websites and platforms that whitewash sexual exploitation and child pornography, prompting an alert from the NGO Save the Children.

VA was a physical education teacher at Les Corts Secondary School for less than three months, at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. During that time period, the comments and groping that have led to complaints from nine students are believed to have occurred. All were in the first year of compulsory secondary school except for one, who was in the third year. The case is being tried this week in the Barcelona Court of Appeals, and the man faces a request for 45 years in prison from the Prosecutor's Office for continuous sexual abuse of minors. He, however, has completely exonerated himself with a statement full of the words "never," "false," and "absolutely false."

The figures made public by the Catalan police this Friday leave no room for doubt: sex crimes have grown by 36% in just one year in the city of Barcelona. This is a very significant increase because, although crime in general has risen by 10%, in the case of sex crimes even the pre-pandemic figures of 2019 were exceeded. This means that we are not facing any statistical rebound effect caused by the pandemic, but a sustained increase in this type of crime that needs a response from the authorities. The first and most urgent has to be police response, since, as chief constable Josep Maria Estela admitted to ARA, there is still a long way to go to improve the Mossos' performance in the face of this problem.

Partial recovery of normality during 2021 has left behind the record low crime of 2020, with the strictest lockdown in force. In the last year, crimes have grown by 10% in Barcelona compared to 2020, but still remain far from 2019, when there was talk of a "security crisis": 35% less have been recorded. Most crimes have risen compared to the first year of covid and sex crimes have increased the most proportionally. Last year, 790 sex crimes were reported in the city, while in 2020 the number was 579. Overall, these types of crimes have soared by 36%. They are also among the few that have even grown compared to 2019 with an increase of 13%.