In Colombia, rapists and murderers of children and adolescents up to the age of 14 can now be sentenced to life imprisonment after a constitutional reform has been passed in Parliament. A new measure that goes badly in opposition.
By 75 votes in favor and no against, the Senate, with the support of the government of right-wing President Ivan Duque, voted to amend article 34 of the Constitution, which prevents "sentences of exile and life imprisonment and confiscation ”. "Exceptionally, when a child or adolescent is the victim of deliberate homicide, sexual intercourse with violence or in the incapacity to resist, a sentence going to life imprisonment may be imposed", specifies the amendment voted.
A campaign promise
The text, already approved by the Chamber of Deputies, will be promulgated by the Head of State in the coming days. It was voted unanimously by those present, but 30 senators had left the hemicycle before. Until then, the maximum prison sentence in Colombia was 60 years in prison.
Parliament's vote closes a debate of more than a decade in this country with a strong conservative tradition. In power since August 2018, Ivan Duque had made this cause a theme of his election campaign and promoted its discussion in Parliament. “Today, Colombia has a great reason for happiness. Today, the Congress of the Republic has advanced this great reform that so many families have been waiting for, which we all hoped for, ”said the president in his daily television address. He stressed that he hoped that assaults against minors would always be crimes "imprescriptible so that at any time, anyone who committed this crime receive this exemplary sanction".
Without investigation, crimes most often go unpunished
In Colombia, almost two minors on average are murdered every day. According to the forensic authority, more than 22,000 minors aged 18 were victims of sexual crimes and 708 of homicide in 2019.
During long debates, proponents of the project argued that child molesters tend to reoffend and that life imprisonment is one way to deter them. They also argued that attacks on children have increased in recent years and that the sentences in place, although heavy, have not always been completed.
Critics of the project, including opposition parliamentarians, academics and experts, argued that an increased sentence was not effective in reducing attacks. According to them, it would be better to invest in criminal investigations to reduce the impunity of these crimes. A leftist senator, Ivan Cepeda, called the decision "lamentable" and "unconstitutional". “The problem comes from the fact that in Colombia, 95% of these facts go unpunished. The problem is not that the sentences are long, the problem is that there is no investigation, there is no serious criminal justice action ", deplored this parliamentarian of the opposition.
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