The 2015 Reform of the Spanish Law on Protection of Public Security: A New Turn on the Security of Rights

In 2015 was promulgated in the Spanish Official Gazette the new Spanish Public Security Law, which came into force on July 1, 2015.

This law, nicknamed the “gag law” (“ley mordaza”) by critics, is one of the most controversial laws in Spain and would have meant a new turn to “the security of rights”. The reform made was an important step forward in extending the regulatory mechanisms for the control of public safety in the control of "public order". As a result, the risk for the violation of rights is being increased.

More specifically, this paper will focus on the changes promoted by the reform of the Public Security Law in 2015 and will analyze the first available data on the application of the Law. Secondly, we will address a specific issue that we consider crucial from the point of view of the protection of guarantees and freedoms, the problems raised by police discretion in the security society. To conclude, finally, it will be develop some cautions and the need to put limits to authoritarian and restrictive interventions in the preventive control of public security to guarantee the protection of fundamental rights.