Faster trials and more sentences in a year: Bolaños says Catalonia is on its way to ending repeat offenders

BarcelonaA tourist is waiting with a suitcase at the lower part of La Rambla del Raval to be picked up by a transport company that will take him to the airport. He is wearing a gold chain that shines. Automatically, a thief's eyes light up, he approaches him and snatches the jewelry. Two plainclothes police officers see the scene and start running after him. They end up catching him on a corner. The chain returns to the tourist's neck while the officers handcuff the thief. But, immediately, the officers also detect that there are a couple of young men who are looking at the tourist and approaching him. They discreetly wait for them to leave to try to steal the chain again. The police accompany the tourist towards the van, which drives off in the direction of the airport, to the disappointment of the young men who were observing him. 

This scene took place a few days ago in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona and perfectly demonstrates how the phenomenon of repeat offending works: they are thieves who live to steal and who, if necessary, will steal again from a person who has just suffered a robbery. A year ago, the Government launched a shock plan to fight against these thieves, and this Friday they presented a review in a grand ceremony at the Palau de la Generalitat with the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños; the president, Salvador Illa, and the ministers of Justice and Interior, Ramon Espadaler and Núria Parlon. The summary is that security is “sacred”, in Illa's words, and a “priority public policy”, according to Bolaños, and that the plan launched is yielding results: “Catalonia is safer every day, we are doing a good job”, affirmed Illa. 

Fewer months of waiting

Espadaler explained that when they accessed the government of the Generalitat in August 2024, they saw that a “notable” effort had been made to expand police forces and that “efficiency” had been gained in the fight against repeat offending. However, they found that there was a “bottleneck” in the courts. One of the objectives of the plan against repeat offending has been “to have more hands to be able to hold more trials”, with the implementation of new reinforcement courts. When the plan began, there was an 18-month wait for a quick trial, and now this time is 13 months, Espadaler defended. Minor immediate trials have also gone from 8.8 months to 2, the counselor added. “There is no turning back from this, and we have a lot of future work to do,” he encouraged.

Bolaños presented more figures. For example, in 2025, 1,380 more sentences were issued from quick trials for repeat offending than in 2024. This means that there were 40% more sentences in the judicial district of Barcelona against repeat offenders. “We are on the verge of saying that we have alleviated the problem,” the minister assured with a triumphalist tone. Shortly after, he recalled that of the 500 new judges, 91 will go to Catalonia, and he joked that the Spanish government had never granted more positions than those requested by the Generalitat. This comment caused laughter in Illa's bench and among the counselors. “We do not use security as a tool of fear, but to guarantee freedom,” the minister added.

More identifications and arrests

The plan against recidivism has a judicial and a police leg. Regarding the latter, Councilor Parlon has provided an assessment: she celebrated that in the first two months of 2026, crimes committed by repeat offenders decreased by 40%, and that since the launch of the Kanpai plan – the police operation designed to tackle repeat offenders – 32,000 individuals with 61,000 prior records have been identified, 600 arrests have been made, and 2,000 mobile phones have been recovered. She also highlighted that the recent Kanpai Pista – which aims to stop this phenomenon on highways – has led to a 37% reduction in crimes in this area, and a 60% reduction in airports.

President Illa, who also reiterated some of these figures indicating a drop in crime, wanted to issue a warning to thieves: “Recidivism doesn't pay off.” He also sent a message to some opposition parties, those with “hate speech”: “Here, miracles are few; hard work, a lot.” Nevertheless, Illa stated that they are not satisfied and want to continue advancing to achieve 25,000 Mossos agents.

In fact, Illa took the opportunity to lament that the "national priorities" of the PP-Vox pacts in Aragon and Extremadura harm coexistence. The president considered that creating "first-class and second-class citizens" damages security.