Overview
- The national executive approved Decreto 875/2026 that reglamented Law 27.801, extending penal responsibility to adolescents from 14 until they turn 18 and creating a Registro de Supervisores and a Mesa Federal with a 180‑day transition to appoint supervisors.
- Santa Fe published Decree 1809/2026 to implement the law autonomously, applying core substantive penal articles directly while keeping provincial procedural codes and assigning the Secretaría de Asuntos Penales to run liberty‑depriving measures and the Secretaría de Derechos de la Niñez to run socio‑educational programs.
- Mendoza announced it began applying the new regime and reported several interventions, including the first recorded detention under the law of a 14‑year‑old accused of aggravated robbery.
- A judge in the Province of Buenos Aires (Pascual) has suspended the law’s application there, creating immediate legal and operational asymmetry across jurisdictions and prompting disputes over detention conditions, infrastructure and training.
- Experts say the reform ends decades of arbitrary practice from a 1980 decree and strengthens procedural guarantees, but provinces now face urgent capacity, budget and staffing challenges that will determine whether the system can deliver alternatives to closed detention and avoid court‑ordered delays.