The person in charge of the Generalitat's minors' centers resigns

BarcelonaThe director of Juvenile Justice, Jesús del Cacho, has resigned after two years in the position. The Government appointed the new director this same Tuesday, criminal defense lawyer Paz Vallès.

Sources from the Department of Justice disconnect the change in the team from last week's crime in Manresa, for which two minors have been arrested, both with criminal records. One of them was on probation at the time of the crime for an attempted homicide in April, for which he had been held in preventive detention until a few weeks ago in a juvenile justice center. In fact, the same sources assure that the decision had been made since August 31st and was proposed by Del Cacho himself, who announced his resignation upon returning from vacation.

"It was requested and agreed upon and has coincided with the timing," said councilor Sílvia Paneque this Tuesday while announcing the change in the position, distancing it from the crime in Manresa. Regarding the events in the capital of Bages and the solutions the government is working on in the face of similar possible events, Paneque explained that there are different departments involved —Interior, Justice, and Social Rights— and that they must work together through public policies and face it "with rigor and serenity."

Del Cacho arrived at the department in September 2024. Born in Huesca in 1961, he has been a judge since 1997 and has practiced in Igualada, Tortosa, Ceuta, and Lleida. From 2005 until he joined the department, he had occupied the position of magistrate at the juvenile court of Tarragona, where he will now return.

Paz Vallès

As for Paz Vallès, she has been practicing as a lawyer since 2011, and since 2014 she has been working at the Molins Defensa Penal law firm. Among the cases she has handled is the defense of the Guàrdia Urbana officer who was acquitted last year for having shot and wounded a homeless person on Passeig Sant Joan in 2020. She also took charge, six years ago, of representing the Barcelona firefighters who demanded that the colleague who had been caught and convicted for filming them in the locker room not be allowed to rejoin the force.

Vallès was also a member of the governing board of the Barcelona Bar Association (Icab) from 2021 to 2025, and chaired the commission for digital transformation, the commission for relations with the administration of justice, and the commission on drugs. She has also participated as an independent expert in the Barcelona City Council working group on multi-recidivism, designing the pilot plan to offer legal assistance to victims of repeat offenders.