The government of the Argentine president presented a bill on Friday aimed at reducing the age of criminal responsibility, currently set at 16, to combat “juvenile crime.”
Following the adoption of the deregulatory economic reform program of ultraliberal President Javier Milei, a new controversial bill is being put forward by the Argentine government. Justice Minister Mariano Cuneo Libarona and his security counterpart Patricia Bullrich both presented a bill on Friday aimed at reducing the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 13 years old.
“We are here to fulfill an obligation to our society, said Patricia Bullrich, in comments relayed by the local press. Our society does not want impunity. She doesn’t want her children or her parents to be killed, and she doesn’t want those who commit a crime to have no consequences. From now on, crime, the worst of which is always death, will have consequences and these will depend on the age of the offender.”
20 years maximum sentence for convicted minors
According to the text, which will be sent to Congress in the coming days, the maximum sentence for convicted minors will be 20 years. Adolescents found guilty of violations of the Argentine Penal Code will serve their sentences in specialized institutions or in separate sections within penitentiary complexes.
“This new law will help combat the persistent increase in juvenile crime, one of the greatest challenges to our country’s prosperity, assured Mariano Cuneo Libarona. It is common knowledge that organized crime takes advantage of children and adolescents to commit crimes without restriction, thus escaping criminal liability.”
The two ministers specified that in the case of sentences ranging from three to six years, imprisonment could be replaced by other restrictions: wearing an electronic bracelet, ban on approaching the victim and their relatives or leaving the territory, execution of works of general interest.
