El Salvador's Bukele signs reforms allowing life prison sentences for
people as young as 12
[April 16, 2026]
SAN SALVADOR (AP) — Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on
Wednesday signed into law constitutional reforms to permit life prison
sentences for people as young as 12, a contentious reform that follows
other heavy-handed measures pushed through by the populist leader.
The change was passed last month by the Legislative Assembly, which is
controlled by Bukele's party, and would apply to people convicted of
committing or acting as an accomplice to crimes including homicide,
femicide, rape and gang membership. The measure was pushed forward by
Bukele's cabinet.
Previously, the maximum sentence in El Salvador was 60 years for adults
and less for youths. The reforms slated to take effect April 26 would
create new criminal courts to try cases. They also stipulate a mandatory
review of life terms decades into the sentences, depending on the age of
the convict and the gravity of their crimes.
Critics say the reforms are just the latest harsh move by Bukele more
than four years into his war on gangs.
Following a burst of gang violence in 2022, Bukele announced a
then-temporary state of emergency, which has become the new normal in
the Central American nation as it's been extended for years. He
suspended constitutional rights and locked up more than 1% of El
Salvador's population, often on vague charges with little evidence.
Prisoners are often judged in mass trials and lawyers regularly lose
track of where their clients are.
In one mass trial last year, alleged gang members were handed sentences
of hundreds of years.
Officials in Bukele’s government have previously vowed that gang members
detained “will never return” to the streets.
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Under the crackdown, Bukele's government has detained around 91,650
people in El Salvador. Bukele has said that less than 10% of those
people have been released.
It's fueled accusations of human rights abuses and arbitrary
detention, but also sharply dipped homicide rates in a country long
terrorized by gangs, handing Bukele soaring popularity levels.
The right-wing ally of U.S. President Donald Trump has been fiercely
criticized for weakening checks and balances and undermining El
Salvador's fragile democracy.
The sentencing changes are the latest in a slew of constitutional
reforms jammed through by Bukele and his allies. Last year, the
government pushed through one of its most contentious reforms that
would eliminate presidential term limits, paving the way for Bukele
to remain in power indefinitely.
Emboldened by Bukele’s alliance with U.S. President Donald Trump,
the government has also gone after its enemies, detaining critics
and activists, and increasingly forcing journalists and opposition
voices to choose between exile or prison.
Human rights organizations have documented cases of arbitrary
detentions for years, and one of them even filed a complaint before
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, stating that the vast
majority of those imprisoned under the state of emergency were
detained arbitrarily, something the leader denies.
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