“Disciplining the Gypsy” in the XXth century: Laws and para-penal conditions in Spain from a European perspective

Abstract

This work approaches to the “Gypsy Question” in Spain with reference to available studies on coercive measures against this minority group undertaken in Europe throughout the XIXth and XXth centuries. Firstly, it will deal with the current state of the art on other national case studies. This will provide our research proposal on the “presumption of guilt” targeting the Roma due to the introduction of the notion of “social dangerousness” in the Spanish criminal laws with a European context. In particular, starting with specific legislation on the “gypsy” during the Restoration period, this work will pay attention to the inter-wars years with republican population control and re-socialization instruments like the Law against Vagrants and Crooks in 1933, and the first Francoism with the toughening of criminal stigmatization on people whose social conditions made them be labelled as “gypsies”. To this aim, we will analyse legal texts, press news, court records and technical reports generated within the Spanish legal and penitentiary circuit.