Overview
- The Constitutional Court will hear the Judicial Branch’s unconstitutionality suit against Law 32330, consolidated with filings by the Ombudsman, the National Prosecutor’s Office and the Ayacucho Bar Association.
- Law 32330 permits prosecuting 16- and 17-year-olds as adults for serious crimes such as homicide, rape, extortion, terrorism and contract killing.
- Supreme Court justice Elvira Álvarez said the Judicial Branch seeks to restore a specialized juvenile justice system and denounced the measure as punitive populism.
- The challengers contend the law infringes principles of special protection, the best interests of the child and the non-regression of rights, and contravenes binding human rights treaties.
- Cited figures note 3,520 adolescents in the juvenile system—1,914 in closed custody and 1,606 under non-custodial measures—and at least 71 youths held alongside adults, raising reintegration and safety concerns.