Bukele signs reforms allowing life prison sentences for people as young as 12

El Salvador's sweeping new law mandates life imprisonment for minors as young as 12 convicted of serious crimes, marking a dramatic escalation in the nation's security crackdown. | Contesto: cronaca

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• Bukele signs reforms allowing life prison sentences for people as young as 12

Contesto

In a move that dramatically escalates his hardline security policy, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has signed into law reforms that mandate life prison sentences for individuals as young as 12 years old. The new legislation, enacted this week, applies to anyone convicted of committing or acting as an accomplice to a slate of grave offenses, including homicide, femicide, rape, and gang membership. The law represents one of the most severe juvenile sentencing frameworks in the Western Hemisphere and a fundamental shift in the legal treatment of minors in the Central American nation. The reforms are the latest and most severe instrument in Bukele's nearly two-year-long "war on gangs," a campaign that has defined his presidency. Since declaring a state of exception in March 2022, authorities have arrested over 72,000 alleged gang members, a massive incarceration drive that has drawn both domestic praise for reducing violence and intense international criticism over widespread human rights allegations. The new sentencing rules effectively remove any possibility of rehabilitation for adolescent offenders found guilty of the listed crimes, permanently consigning them to prison regardless of their age at the time of the offense. Legal experts and child rights advocates have condemned the measure as a violation of international conventions. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which El Salvador has ratified, establishes that imprisonment of a child should be a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate time. Furthermore, the convention explicitly states that neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offenses committed by persons below eighteen years of age. By mandating life terms for children, the Salvadoran state appears to be in direct contravention of these core principles, setting the stage for potential diplomatic and legal confrontations. The political context of this legislative action is significant. President Bukele, who remains overwhelmingly popular domestically for his perceived success in crushing gang violence, recently began a constitutionally controversial...

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Categoria: cronaca