Senate La Libertad Avanza caucus chief Patricia Bullrich announced Thursday that the government has gained approval at committee level of its new penal juvenile programme, which will be debated on the upper house floor next week.
“We’ll turn it into law next week. There can be no more victims and destroyed families in Argentina, nor impunity for kids who hide behind their age to go out and commit crimes and then return home as if nothing had happened,” she expressed via social media.
“Nothing can give back to the victims and their families what they have lost, not even justice for those responsible. But looking the other way is now over,” addedBullrich.
The Senate committee signing the bill was celebrated by President Javier Milei from the United States.
The lower house Chamber of Deputies approved the bill by a comfortable majority of 149 votes to 100 on February 12. All parties voted in favour except the Peronists, the left, Elijo Catamarca and Defendamos Córdoba lawmakers.
The proposal would raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14 and reform a dictatorship-era law to create a special new regime for the underaged, from minor sanctions alternative to jail to up to 15 years in prison for heinous crimes.
There is no life imprisonment under this bill, which fixes special imprisonment terms but orders youths be separated from adult criminals with complementary measures of resocialisation.
Prison confinement is ruled out for sentences under three years whereas for sentences of between three and 10 years linked to crimes which have not occasioned death or grievous bodily harm, priority is given to other forms of punishment with a social and educational focus.
– TIMES/NA
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