No Way Out: Life Imprisonment for Children in El Salvador
Updated: Sep 1
Executive Summary
Since March 2022, El Salvador has maintained a state of exception, extended without interruption for more than four years, in contravention of its own constitutional design as a temporary and extraordinary measure.
In March 2026, the State deepened this trajectory through constitutional and legal reforms that introduced the penalty of life imprisonment, extending it also to persons under the age of 18 through amendments to the Juvenile Criminal Law and the Criminal Code.
This report analyses these reforms in light of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and concludes that they constitute a cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment contrary to Article 37(a); that the 25-year review period is not substantially shorter than that applicable to adults, contrary to paragraph 81 of General Comment No. 24; and that its automatic imposition, without judicial individualisation, violates Articles 37(b) and 40.
1. Public Security Policy in El Salvador
Between 25 and 27 March 2022, gangs committed 87 homicides in El Salvador. In response to this surge in violence, on 27 March the Legislative Assembly approved Legislative Decree No. 333, declaring a state of exception throughout the national territory and suspending the constitutional guarantees contained in Articles 7 (right of association and assembly), 12, second paragraph (right to be informed immediately and in a comprehensible manner of the reasons for detention and of the rights afforded to the detained person, as well as the right not to be compelled to testify), 13, second paragraph (limit on administrative detention, extended from 72 hours to 15 days), and 24 (inviolability of correspondence and communications).
Article 29 of the Constitution of El Salvador authorises the suspension of certain constitutional guarantees only in cases of “war, invasion of the territory, rebellion, sedition, catastrophe, epidemic or other general calamity, or grave disturbances of public order.” Article 30 provides that the suspension may not exceed thirty days, although it may be extended, for an equal period and by new decree, if the circumstances that gave rise to it persist. The constitutional design thus conceives of the suspension of guarantees as an exceptional, temporary measure subject to periodic renewal conditioned on the continued existence of the grounds that originally justified it.
Contrary to this constitutional design, the state of exception has been extended on fifty-three occasions since its entry into force, remaining continuously in effect for more than four years. This sustained prolongation has denatured the exceptional and temporary character that the Constitution itself requires, transforming what was meant to be an extraordinary and transitional response into a de facto permanent regime.
This permanence has not been limited to the suspension of guarantees under the state of exception. The State has additionally advanced the approval of legal and constitutional reforms aimed at definitively consolidating a new model of justice and public security that transcends the transitional logic of Article 29 of the Constitution. Among these reforms are the one enabling the penalty of life imprisonment under Article 27 of the Constitution and the corresponding reform to the Juvenile Criminal Law, which incorporated that same penalty among the sanctions applicable to persons under 18 years of age — legislation examined in the following section.
2. The March 2026 Reforms
The Constitution of El Salvador, in force since 20 December 1983, prohibited perpetual sentences. Article 27, second paragraph, provided: Imprisonment for debt, perpetual sentences, degrading sentences, banishment, and every form of torment are prohibited. This constitutional prohibition formed part of a consistent tradition in Salvadoran constitutionalism, systematically replicated in preceding constitutions.
On 26 March 2026, the Legislative Assembly ratified a reform to Article 27 enabling the penalty of life imprisonment. The reformed text provides: Imprisonment for debt, degrading sentences, banishment, and every form of torment are prohibited. Life imprisonment shall be imposed only on murderers, rapists and terrorists.
The Juvenile Criminal Law governs the regime applicable to persons over 12 and under 18 years of age. One day after the constitutional reform was ratified, on 27 March 2026, the Legislative Assembly approved reforms to that law authorising the imposition of life imprisonment on minors under 18. The current text provides:
Article 8.— A minor who commits an act classified as a crime or misdemeanour under criminal legislation may only be subjected to the following measures and penalties: […] h) The penalty of life imprisonment.
Article 9, second paragraph.— The application of measures shall be ordered on a provisional or definitive basis, and may be suspended, revoked or substituted by others, following consultation, where applicable, with those responsible for supporting the minor during compliance with the measure. This provision shall not apply to proceedings conducted under the Law Against Organised Crime, with respect to precautionary measures and sentences of imprisonment and life imprisonment, the enforcement regime for which shall be governed by that legislation.
Article 15, final paragraph.— In the case of offences carrying a sentence of life imprisonment, that sentence shall be imposed, and its review shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Code.
The Criminal Code was reformed that same day. With respect to the review of a life sentence imposed on a person under 18, the following was incorporated:
Article 92-B.— The sentence of life imprisonment shall be enforced, with mandatory review upon completion of: a) Twenty-five years, for offences committed by minors […]
That reform to the Criminal Code established life imprisonment as the sole and automatic penalty for the offences of simple homicide, aggravated homicide, rape, rape of a minor or incapacitated person, aggravated rape and aggravated rape of a minor, and membership in a terrorist organisation — a category under which Salvadoran legislation includes structures known as gangs.
3. Compatibility Analysis with the Convention on the Rights of the Child
3.1. On the Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Character of the Penalty
Article 37(a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) prohibits subjecting children to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment. The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment has stated that life imprisonment and lengthy sentences — including consecutive ones — are extremely disproportionate and therefore constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment when imposed on a child. Consistent with this position, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has recommended that States abolish all forms of life imprisonment for offences committed by persons under 18 years of age at the time of commission.
El Salvador incorporated the penalty of life imprisonment into the Juvenile Criminal Law, applicable to persons who committed certain offences while over 12 and under 18 years of age. This constitutes a cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment under the standards established by the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and as such violates Article 37(a) of the CRC, as well as the recommendation made to States by the Committee.
3.2. On the Possibility of Release
Article 37(a) of the CRC absolutely prohibits the imposition of “life imprisonment without possibility of release for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age.” Under General Comment No. 24 (hereinafter “GC 24”), where a person is sentenced to life imprisonment for offences committed before the age of 18, the possibility of granting conditional release must meet three requirements:
The period preceding review of the sentence must be substantially shorter than that applicable to adults.
That period must be realistic.
The possibility of conditional release must be periodically reconsidered.
In the case of El Salvador, review of a life sentence imposed on a person who committed the act while over 12 and under 18 years of age becomes available upon completion of 25 years of imprisonment. The central question for this analysis is whether that period satisfies the first of these requirements: being substantially shorter than that applicable to adults.
The Rome Statute enables the imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment on adults who have committed genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or the crime of aggression, where justified by the extreme gravity of the crime and the individual circumstances of the convicted person. For these cases — the most serious recognised under international criminal law — the Statute itself allows for review of the life sentence upon completion of 25 years of imprisonment.
A review period cannot be considered “substantially shorter” — and will therefore be incompatible with the standard set out in paragraph 81 of GC 24 and with the mandate of favourable differentiation required by Article 40(1) of the CRC — if it is not set significantly below that international floor of 25 years. A scheme that fixes the same figure — or a higher one — for a person under 18, and for offences of lesser gravity than those defined in the Rome Statute, does not meet this standard, regardless of the percentage reduction that period represents relative to the adult regime under Salvadoran law itself.
El Salvador equates the review period applicable to a child sentenced to life imprisonment for ordinary offences with the threshold that international law reserves as a floor for adults convicted of the most serious crimes recognised by the international community. For this reason, that review period is not substantially shorter than that applicable to adults, and consequently violates Article 37(a) of the CRC.
3.3. On the Automatic Nature of the Life Sentence
Article 40 of the CRC provides that the application of the criminal justice system to persons under 18 years of age must take into account “the child's age and the desirability of promoting the child's reintegration and the child's assuming a constructive role in society.” Article 37(b) of the CRC establishes that the detention or imprisonment of a person under 18 must be a measure of last resort and, where used, must be for “the shortest appropriate period of time.” Furthermore, under GC 24, States must establish a maximum penalty for children accused of offences, and that penalty must reflect the principle of the “shortest appropriate period of time.” It further adds that mandatory minimum sentences are incompatible with this principle.
In its reform to the Criminal Code, El Salvador established life imprisonment as the sole and automatic penalty to be imposed on persons under 18 years of age who have committed the offences of simple homicide, aggravated homicide, rape, rape of a minor or incapacitated person, aggravated rape and aggravated rape of a minor, and membership in a terrorist organisation. For these offences, there is no range of minimum and maximum penalties allowing courts to exercise sentencing discretion that takes into account the particular circumstances of the accused, including age. For this reason, this reform places El Salvador in violation of Articles 37(b) and 40 of the CRC.
4. Conclusions
El Salvador's reforms to the Constitution, the Juvenile Criminal Law and the Criminal Code, establishing life imprisonment for persons who committed certain offences while under 18 years of age, constitute a cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment that violates Article 37(a) of the CRC, as well as the recommendation made to States by the Committee in GC 24.
El Salvador established that, upon completion of 25 years of imprisonment, the life sentence imposed on persons who committed the act while over 12 and under 18 years of age may be reviewed. This period is not substantially shorter than that applicable to adults, and is therefore contrary to paragraph 81 of GC 24, and violates Article 37(a) of the CRC.
Life imprisonment for persons who, while under 18 years of age, committed certain offences was established as a sole and automatic sanction, and for this reason El Salvador violates Articles 37(b) and 40 of the CRC.
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