The current Salvadoran criminal legislation and its effectiveness in the control of gang crime in the city of Santa Tecla

Abstract

The gangs or gangs in El Salvador appeared strongly in the 1980s, but particularly in 2003 the criminal wave manifested itself in heinous and inhuman crimes such as beheadings, rapes, dismemberment of people, which seemed to be a mechanism to call society's attention to the marginalization they were in; This in turn resulted in a response from the authorities carrying out repressive measures and the formulation of special laws, in order to reduce the criminal boom of the gangs. The investigation was descriptive and the types of crime that are usually committed by gang members, which are regulated in the Criminal Code and in the so-called Anti-maras Law, are taken as a sample. The hypothesis stated that the Criminal Code does not diminish the criminal actions of gangs, but that all it does is punish unlawful behaviors constantly committed by these
individuals The results showed that the type of crime most frequently committed by gang members are those related to personal integrity such as non-serious injuries and serious injuries; heritage crimes such as: aggravated robbery and aggravated robbery, aggravated theft and aggravated theft; crimes related to individual freedom and public peace such as: threats, illicit associations, belonging to a mara or gang. Regarding the Judicial Resolutions pronounced by the Judges consulted at the time of applying the Criminal Legislation to the gang members were: formal instruction, definitive dismissal, provisional dismissal and conciliation. In general, it was concluded that the Criminal Legislation in force during the course of the investigation was not effective in controlling gang crime in the city of Santa Tecla.