Beginning December 31st, 2025, the Courts of Violence Against Women of Alicante will offer on-call services seven days a week. This was one of the repercussions of the Royal Decree, which authorised the creation of 50 magistrate seats throughout Spain to enhance judicial authorities specialising in combating gender-based violence. As previously announced, new jobs have been created for the judicial districts of Alicante and Benidorm, and two additional prosecutor roles will be assigned to detachments in those territories.
Currently, Alicante has three courts specialising in violence against women that cycle through the day’s occurrences and lack a functional on-call system. At 2:00 p.m., these courts close and do not reopen until the following day. The on-call court handles the service on holidays and weekends, when it remains closed.
With the new magistrate position, Alicante’s domestic violence courts will now have four specialised judges on call every day. The General Council of the Judiciary’s (CGPJ) existing regulations indicate that a fourth court would be sufficient, although the model is currently under review. The service would be available from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. daily, with the various teams working three-day shifts. The Alicante courts for violence against women currently serve this neighbourhood, as well as San Vicente.
Sexual violence
The approved reinforcements are the result of the new Judicial Efficiency Law, which mandates that these judges oversee all sexual violence cases beginning in October, regardless of whether the offender and victim have a domestic relationship. October will see the implementation of this power revision, but the creation of the new roles will not occur until December 31st of this year. As a result, during the fourth quarter of 2025, the rise in cases will be handled without extra reinforcements. The courts as we know them will disappear, to be replaced by college courts, which will have many judges and a shared staff of all officials. Thus, Alicante will have a Violence Against Women Section with four judicial jobs.
Another region that has caused debate was Benidorm, where there was consideration of abolishing an investigative judge position and transferring it to the Violence Against Women division, which would have two judges. The Ministry of Justice reversed its position following the proposal’s resounding rejection. Not only will it not reduce employment in the resort town, but it will also exacerbate the gender-based violence divide.
The next phase of the so-called Efficiency Law will go into effect on July 1st, with the establishment of the first First Instance Courts in places with mixed courts, meaning those that handle both civil and criminal matters. Some members of the judiciary have expressed dissatisfaction with the reform and have called for protests next Wednesday.
Author: Derek Appleton
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