Why El Salvador's new law allows life sentences for children as young as 12

What we know

• El Salvador has published a new law allowing life imprisonment for minors as young as 12 convicted of serious crimes, including homicide, terrorism, and rape.
• The law is set to take effect on April 26.
• The measure is part of broader anti-gang policies under President Nayib Bukele.
• It follows a constitutional amendment approved in March by a legislature dominated by Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party.
• Since March 2022, El Salvador has been under a state of emergency, repeatedly extended, granting expanded powers to security forces.
• More than 90,000 people have been imprisoned during the crackdown, with nearly 1.9% of the population behind bars.
• Some detainees are held without charges, while others have faced mass trials involving up to 900 people at once.
• The law reduces certain legal protections for youth offenders but allows for periodic sentence reviews and possible supervised release.
• Human rights groups and international organisations have raised concerns about due process violations and mass detentions.

What they said

President Nayib Bukele wrote, “We shall see who supports this amendment, and who will dare to argue that the Constitution should continue to prohibit murderers and rapists from remaining in prison.” UNICEF and the Committee on the Rights of the Child said, “The imposition of life sentences and excessively long detention measures on children and adolescents constitute a contradiction of the standards enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”