the president relaunches the debate on the death penalty after the murder of a teenager

Peru's President Dina Boluarte on Tuesday called for the reinstatement of the death penalty for child rapists, following the alleged sexual assault and murder of a 12-year-old girl in a Lima slum. “It is time that faced with acts of such seriousness, which should be inconceivable in a society, we propose drastic measures”declared the conservative leader during a public ceremony. “It is time to open the debate on the death penalty for child rapists”she continued about the sentence abolished in Peru in 1979.

The girl's body was found on Sunday wrapped in blankets and rugs under the bed of the alleged attacker, who was arrested by police. The teenager was reported missing on Saturday, according to a press release from the Interior Ministry. “We cannot allow guys like that to walk freely in the streets (…) We must not have any type of indulgence towards those who dare touch our children”added Dina Boluarte.

Constitutional reform

Reinstating the death penalty in Peru would require constitutional reform approved by Parliament and would run counter to the country's international human rights commitments. Since 1995, Parliament has rejected at least eight bills aimed at reinstating the death penalty. Perpetrators of rape of children under 14 face life imprisonment.

According to the National Penitentiary Institute, nearly 8,500 people are serving sentences for this type of crime in Peruvian prisons. Dina Boluarte, whose popularity rating is at its lowest, is the subject of an investigation for having informed neither the government nor Parliament in 2023 that she was going to undergo a nose operation. The president is also the subject of another investigation in the context of the so-called affair of «Rolexgate»involving luxury watches, but also jewelry, which she would not have declared.