SAN SALVADOR — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele signed into law constitutional reforms that permit life prison sentences for people as young as 12. The reforms apply to individuals convicted of committing or acting as an accomplice to crimes including homicide, femicide, rape and gang membership.

Bukele's cabinet advanced the reforms before the Legislative Assembly, which is controlled by his party, passed them last month. The changes are set to take effect on April 26, 2026.

Prior to the reforms, the maximum prison sentence in El Salvador was 60 years for adults, with lower maximums for youths. The new law also creates criminal courts to try the relevant cases and requires a mandatory review of life sentences decades into the term, based on the convict's age and the severity of the crimes.

The sentencing overhaul follows a broader crackdown on gangs that Bukele launched in 2022, when he announced a temporary state of emergency following gang violence. That state of emergency has remained in effect continuously since its initial declaration in 2022. Under it, Bukele suspended constitutional rights.

The government detained around 91,650 people under the crackdown, a figure representing more than 1% of El Salvador's population. Bukele has said that fewer than 10% of those detained have been released. Prisoners have been judged in mass trials, and in one such trial last year, alleged gang members received sentences totaling hundreds of years. Lawyers have regularly lost track of where their detained clients are being held.

Homicide rates in El Salvador decreased following the government crackdown on gangs. At the same time, the government has detained critics and activists, and has forced journalists and opposition voices to choose between exile or prison.

A complaint was filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging that most people imprisoned under the state of emergency were detained arbitrarily. Bukele denies that the majority of those imprisoned were detained arbitrarily.