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

Abstract

This work approaches to the “Gypsy Question” in Spain with reference toavailable studies on coercive measures against this minority group undertaken inEurope throughout the xixth and xxth centuries. Firstly, it will deal with the currentstate of the art on other national case studies. This will provide our research proposalon the “presumption of guilt” targeting the Roma due to the introduction ofthe notion of “social dangerousness” in the Spanish criminal laws with a Europeancontext. In particular, starting with specific legislation on the “gypsy” during theRestoration period, this work will pay attention to the inter-wars years with republicanpopulation control and re-socialization instruments like the Law againstVagrants and Crooks in 1933, and the first Francoism with the toughening of criminalstigmatization on people whose social conditions made them be labelled as“gypsies”. To this aim, we will analyse legal texts, press news, court records and technicalreports generated within the Spanish legal and penitentiary circuit.