El propósito de este trabajo de investigación es explorar la reincidencia juvenil desde una perspectiva comparada entre España y Alemania, puesto que el país germano emerge como un referente en el ámbito de la justicia de menores. Para ello, se estudia desde un enfoque jurídico y criminológico ambos sistemas de justicia en un contexto de derechos humanos, ya que los menores reincidentes tienen un gran interés científico y relevancia en nuestras sociedades a día de hoy. A efectos de estudio del fenómeno de la reincidencia, se debe en primer lugar analizar la figura del menor de edad para a continuación, examinar los aspectos relacionados con aquellos menores que han mostrado comportamientos delictivos. Dentro de este análisis cumplen un papel fundamental los principales instrumentos jurídicos de protección de menores en el ámbito internacional, europeo e interno. Gracias al examen normativo pero también jurisprudencial emanado de las decisiones tomadas por los órganos jurisdiccionales en relación al tratamiento jurídico dado al menor de edad y por ende al menor infractor, se profundiza en el estudio del proceso penal juvenil en España y Alemania. Todo ello se complementa por la aportación de diversas corrientes doctrinales en los dos países, lo que ayudará a avanzar en la búsqueda de una mayor explicación de la reincidencia juvenil. Del mismo modo, se perseguirá conseguir un mejor discurso que nos traslade hacia una humanización de la norma penal en contraposición a las posturas más punitivistas, ya que las últimas reformas llevadas a cabo son justificadas en cierto modo, por la demanda política y social. Se impone la idea que los delitos cometidos por los jóvenes y adolescentes representan un riesgo para la comunidad, lo que produce en consecuencia actuaciones de diversa índole por parte de las distintas instituciones políticas y sociales. A pesar del estudio normativo de la regulación de la reincidencia y del estudio jurídico del fundamento de esta institución, se requiere de una aproximación criminológica a través de investigaciones empíricas y estudios estadísticos, ya que el Derecho penal debe dejarse influenciar por otras ciencias. El Derecho penal no puede responder solo por sí mismo frente a las causas de la reincidencia, siendo por tanto necesario desde la Criminología la identificación y el análisis de las razones que ocasionan un comportamiento reincidente. A partir de aquí, la reincidencia juvenil se presenta como un objetivo muy atractivo para esta ciencia, ya que como grupo vulnerable se situa en el centro de un debate social y político en el marco de los derechos humanos. El menor reincidente como sujeto de derechos debe tener unas garantías por parte de los Estados para que se cumplan y disfruten tales derechos, aunque bien es sabido que en ocasiones se producen vulneraciones de los mismos. Por otro lado, como consecuencia del periodo vital que corresponde a la juventud y a la adolescencia, se perfilan estas etapas como especialmente vulnerables frente a una posible estigmatización del menor, particularmente durante el procedimiento penal y el cumplimiento de una medida en un centro de internamiento. Está claro además, que se pueden dar situaciones que ocasionen una discriminación del menor reincidente por causa de las actuaciones llevadas a cabo por los actores sociales o de la interpretación y aplicación práctica de la norma. En cualquier caso, tanto las vulneraciones como los actos discriminatorios prevén unos efectos negativos sobre el menor reincidente que le pueden provocar una serie de transtornos a todos los niveles y un cambio en su interacción con la comunidad. Finalmente, lo que subyace ante esta problemática social es el miedo o la inseguridad que se produce frente a este colectivo, ya que algunos casos han calado profundamente en la comunidad, lo que hace que la preparación del menor reincidente hacia su vida en libertad sea más complicada. Se contraponen de esta manera diferentes visiones que se han plasmado en el discurso doctrinal y en el ámbito científico criminológico en torno a este fenómeno, lo que demuestra la enorme transcendencia que va adquiriendo y el efecto que ha tenido para mejorar la posición del menor reincidente en la vida pública.

The debate on juvenile delinquency and the figure of the juvenile offender is not particularly new for Criminology, because this issue has been an attractive object of study for years, not only for this science but also for other disciplines. A multidisciplinary approach from Criminology certainly examines the relationship of the minor offender with the crime, taking into account the different types of crime, but also the victim and social control. In fact, the substantive relevance of juvenile delinquency transcends the criminological fields, but also others such as the legal-penal, sociological, educational, victimological and political spheres. Under this premise, we argue for an in-depth analysis not only to study aspects associated with crime in society, but also to face any other question. The essential thing is to describe and discuss where criminality is going. In other words, in recent times the assumption about current crime trends and the quality of criminal acts has become a dimension with its own problems. This whole matter has a special interest to our country and other countries of our socio-cultural environment which use control mechanisms to minimize the rate of juvenile delinquency in our societies. Specialized literature insists and shows that youth crimes are quantitatively the most common crimes among young people. In fact, the most serious crimes will occupy a small percentage within the whole of juvenile delinquency. This phenomenon is well-known in Spain, which leads to consider further the development in other countries such as Germany. Our domestic legal system is modeled on the the German pattern of Juvenile Court Law. This pattern, as an example for our criminal and social policies, will protect offender’s human rights. For this reason, both juvenile legal systems will present certain similarities. Their ultimate purpose will be the re-education of the child and his reintegration into society prioritizing educational measures as alternatives to traditional punishments. As a consequence of the successive reforms there is a controversy from a multiplicity of social actors and institutions about the lack of laxity under criminal legislation on juveniles. The Organic Law 5/2000, of January 12 Regulating the Criminal Liability of Minors (hereinafter LORRPM) came into force in Spain. This Law was a great legislative advance to determinate the bases of the criminal liability of minors (between 14 and 18 years of age) through application of sanctioning-educational measures. In Germany the Youth Court Law, translated literally from "Jugendgerichtsgesetz" (hereinafter JGG), was introduced by the law reform on 4 August 1953. The aforementioned Juvenile Criminal Law evidences an educational thinking introducing informal procedures such as "Diversion" (non-intervention). Indeed, in both countries there is a specific and autonomous Criminal Law with judicial educational sanctions to seek re-socialization and reintegration of a child in conflict with the law. A measure will be imposed depending on judicial criteria, the educational deficit of the young person and other factors of his/her life, taking as the first option the less burdensome measure. From this perspective, it is important to avoid social prejudice and the stigmatization of the minor, due to a possible process of tertiary victimization caused by the many effects derived from all the stages of the criminal procedure. The special needs of juvenile and young adults led to the configuration of this Juvenile Criminal Law towards the development and transformation of policies to protect them. The policymaker cannot apply the same rules to young people and adults because of their personality development and state of maturity. In fact, not all juvenile behaviours will be subject to prosecution. In this context, prevention should prevail on punishment because both Criminal Laws are based on the best interests of the child principle. This principle as a protective and guiding criterion will also serve to resolve conflicts between rights in cases where minors are involved. The courts and the nonjudicial institutions have different functions like: ensuring the child’s rights, making decisions which best benefit the child and ensuring this principle is correctly interpreted and applied. The child as a person has rights regulated in the domestic legal system of each country, but also in international legal instruments whose texts come from the United Nations and the European supranational framework. The contextualization of this issue makes it possible to highlight some questions set out on juvenile criminality and mainly on a differentiated core regarding re-offending juveniles and young adults. Recidivism is a key concept which must be analysed from a theoretical, juridical and criminological perspective. This integral analysis is useful to avoid the marginalization of the recidivist minor offender and to ignore recidivism as a social phenomenon. A dialogue between the different sectors of society will help to prevent some certain deficiencies and privations which lead to the renunciation of opportunities for intervention, solution and improvement of re-offenders. Criminology inquires into several issues concerning recidivism among young offenders: What can be done with re-offenders? What is the most appropriate response when a minor commits a crime again? Do we help them in their process of social reintegration? What kind of alternatives are there to a criminal response? Are re-offenders excluded from social discourse? What can Criminology offer them? It is necessary that criminologists and professionals of the social scientists field should begin to deal with this criminal phenomenon in order to be able to explain in a more exhaustive way the causes of recidivism, of mistrust against this group, the need to use other legal methods or the reason to criminalize them. Neither Spanish nor German policymakers can offer a clear response to the behaviour of the reoffenders. From an interdisciplinary perspective, this research aims to reflect on some implications of recidivism among young offenders derived from legal and scientific discourse. The core of the work examines both Juvenile Criminal Laws from a legal perspective, while the different scientific papers providing quantitative and qualitative data about this matter are analysed from a criminological point of view. Following the discussion, recidivism among the young has had an impact on human rights. The rights of a minor who is subject to criminal proceedings must be respected at all stages, by means of a series of procedural and substantive guarantees. Recognition and respect of the young re-offender’s human rights requires a renewed reflection from a broader perspective that moves away from a purely political conception and is replaced by a closer cooperation with the stakeholders, in order to seek equitable justice for minor recidivists at local and regional levels. Juvenile recidivism in a comparative context is the main research line of this study. What is obvious is that the minor re-offender is part of a changing and notorious reality which must be continually studied to delimit and reduce it.