El Salvador Adopts New Law Allowing Life Sentences For Children

El Salvador Adopts New Law Allowing Life Sentences For Children EL SALVADOR El Salvador passed a law this week that allows judges to sentence minors as young as 12 to life in prison, part of a years-long crackdown on criminal gangs that has drastically reduced gang violence but has led to accusations of severe human rights violations. The measure, passed by the legislature controlled by President Nayib Bukele and his Nuevas Ideas party, will apply to sentencing for severe crimes such as homicide, terrorism and rape. The new law lifts certain legal protections for youth offenders and allows for periodic sentence reviews after decades served. The law is to take effect on April 26. Critics, which also include United Nations officials and human rights groups, say that the measure is abusive, inhumane and violates international human rights standards. However, Bukele casts those critics as soft on crime. Since March 2022, El Salvador has been under a state of emergency that has suspended certain civil liberties in favor of greater police and military powers to combat gang violence. Initially designed to last 30 days, the state of emergency has been renewed dozens of times. And since then, the government has carried out a campaign of mass arrest and imprisonment. More than 90,000 have been jailed in the notorious mega prison, the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, which houses prisoners in inhumane conditions, rights groups say. They add that some of these detainees were arbitrarily arrested and have been held without charges. Others have been processed in mass trials, a process approved in 2023 to allow up to 900 people to be tried at once. Lawyers say they lose track of their clients. Last month, the International Group of Experts for the Investigation of Human Rights Violations under the State of Emergency in El Salvador (GIPES) published a report, which accused the government of crimes against humanity. The report pointed to comments by Bukele acknowledging that “at least 8,000 detainees were innocent.” Meanwhile, the president has also been criticized for weakening checks and balances, repressing the media and dissent and undermining El Salvador’s fragile democracy. Last year, the legislature eliminated presidential term limits, paving the way for Bukele to remain in power indefinitely. Still, Bukele is highly popular with voters because his policies have sharply decreased homicide rates in a country long terrorized by gangs.