Criminal reform in El Salvador includes life imprisonment for minors

San Salvador.- The penal reform accompanying a constitutional amendment in El Salvador, promoted by the Nayib Bukele government, which allows for life imprisonment for the crimes of homicide, rape, and terrorist groups, includes minors, as stated on Monday by magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice before a commission of the Legislative Assembly. The Political Commission of the Legislative Body received the presiding magistrate of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, Alejandro Quinteros, and the magistrate of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber José Galo in order to hear their assessments of the reforms. "A reform has been proposed in the area of minors," Quinteros said at the meeting, and pointed out that the possibility of reviewing the life sentence for those under 18, to be able to access a "controlled freedom", is 25 years for the three crimes. In Quinteros' opinion, this term is "substantially more short" than that established for adults and "is in accordance" with an observation by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, which indicates that "no child who was under 18 years of age at the time of committing the crime shall be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of release or parole".

"The secondary law reform package establishes the possibility of being released, that is, a revisable life sentence," the magistrate pointed out.

He maintained that the observation of the aforementioned committee, which dates back to 2019, indicates that the review should be periodic and that the amendment states that life imprisonment will be reviewed every five years. One of the reforms to the Juvenile Criminal Law proposed by the Government states that "in the case of crimes whose penalty is life imprisonment, this will be imposed and its review will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Penal Code". In addition to the Juvenile Criminal Law, the set of reforms includes modifications to the Criminal Code, the Law for a Life Free of Violence against Women, and the Law against Acts of Terrorism. The Congress, dominated by the ruling party Nuevas Ideas (NI), approved last Tuesday a constitutional reform that allows for life sentences for "murderers, rapists, and terrorists" proposed by the government of President Nayib Bukele, and which must subsequently be ratified. "Imprisonment for debt, infamous, proscriptive, and all kinds of torment are prohibited. Perpetual punishment will only be imposed on murderers, rapists, and terrorists", says the reform to the second paragraph of article 27 of the Constitution approved in plenary session by 59 deputies of NI, their allies and including two from the opposition, of the 60 that make up this body.