The law, known as “only yes means yes,” made verbal consent, or the lack thereof, the key component in cases of alleged sexual assault, according to AP. But it also revised the minimum and maximum prison terms for sexual assault convictions, a move which has opened the door to judges shaving months or even years off convictions for rapists and abusers on appeal.
For the first time since the controversial law entered into force almost four months ago, the coalition government’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez publicly spoke about a correction to the text.
“The Law on Sexual Freedom has had an unwanted consequence, the reduction of sentences in some cases. This is a technical question that does not reflect the will of the Executive,” he told a Senate session Tuesday. “And those unwanted effects, of course, we are going to correct them.”
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