Bullrich to file Argentine Penal Code reform aimed at increasing sentences

In her last act as security minister, senator-elect Patricia Bullrich announced on Monday that she would file a Penal Code reform bill focused on increasing prison sentences for various crimes. Bullrich submitted her resignation from her post following the announcement in order to take up her seat in the Senate on December 10, when all recently elected lawmakers will be sworn in. The bill would cover sentences for a wide range of crimes, including murder, robbery, drug trafficking, production and distribution of child abuse images, human trafficking, and traffic accidents caused by reckless driving. “Eighty-two percent of the crimes covered by the reform would carry effective prison sentences,” the outgoing security minister said during a conference she gave in Casa Rosada with Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni. This increase would be achieved by raising the minimum sentences, a change designed to prevent offenders from getting an early release. Argentina’s current penal system mandates that all sentences of three years or less are exempt from prison time. Bullrich argued that the new Penal Code seeks to “reverse the reality of who was most favored: criminals, rapists, and murderers; to ensure that justice is served promptly and that sentences are effectively enforced.” A key portion of the bill is devoted to the goal of eliminating the statute of limitations for crimes of sexual abuse and aggravated homicide. Sentences for the latter will also determine that life imprisonment is “for life,” with no possibility of temporary reduction. Currently, all prisoners serving life get a parole hearing after 25 years. A hard-liner on crime The minister, a hardliner who in her 50-year political career was a member of Peronism, the UCR, and PRO before jumping to ruling party La Libertad Avanza, pointed out that the bill provides for “harsher penalties.” She also said that the bill will change the concept of self-defense and that “the presumption [of innocence] will always fall on the person defending themselves.” At the press conference, Adorni highlighted the outgoing minister’s “enormous contribution to restoring order.”  “When she took office as minister, Argentina was mired in a true bloodbath, [activists blocking roads] owned the streets, and cities like Rosario were liberated zones for narco-terrorists,” Adorni said. “The Bullrich doctrine came to put an end to the anarchic regime that tied the hands of law enforcement,” he said. On December 10, he added, the same doctrine “will be brought before Congress, where it will have the mission of passing the necessary bills for the country to move forward.”