With 477 votes in favor and zero against, the ruling that reforms various provisions of the National Laws of the Comprehensive System of Criminal Justice for Adolescents and Federal against Organized Crimeon combating the use of minors by organized crime, was sent to the Senate of the Republic.
This project establishes sanctions for people who use minors in any crime or involve them with any degree of intervention, in its commission.
While in relation to measures of social and family reintegration of the teenage person It should be considered that, in the case of minors prosecuted or punished for organized crime, reintegration will include measures to guarantee their protection, survival and reintegration until they are 18 years old.
It is proposed that, in the case of individualization hearings, in the case of minors prosecuted for organized crime, the Judge will define the mechanisms that will be available for their reintegration.
It adds that, in the case of the hearings of individualizationIn the case of minors prosecuted for organized crime, the judge will define the mechanisms that will be available for their reintegration.
Article 5 of the Federal Law against Organized Crime establishes that the penalties, contemplated in article 4, will increase by up to one half when minors are involved, with any degree of intervention, in its commission.
The document specifies that the use of children and adolescents by organized crime groups practically began in parallel with the deepening of the usual violence that resulted from the confrontation with drug cartels; however, this problem was not made visible in a decisive way until 2010, when a 14-year-old minor was arrested in an operation who was captured by organized crime at the age of 12 while trying to board a plane to the United States.
He mentions that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that up to 300,000 girls and boys around the world are associated with armed forces and groups in conflicts. The Network for Children’s Rights in Mexico (Redim) affirms that there are no official statistics on the number and type of crimes committed by children involved in organized crime.
Nor is it known how many are involved in these organizations, although calculations by the academy place this tentative figure at 30,000 minors recruited by organized crime.
It adds that it is clear that the use of minors by organized crime is a phenomenon that afflicts the most vulnerable sectors of society. Furthermore, their special circumstances are aggravated by the lack of employment opportunities and decent living conditions.
In justifying the opinion, the president of the Justice Commission, deputy Felipe Fernando Macías Olvera (PAN), stated that the objective is to guarantee the social reintegration of children and adolescents who have been recruited by crime or drug trafficking.
Macías Olvera argued that social programs serve to reduce this issue, but they are not enough. To prevent them from falling into the hands of crime, he added, equal opportunities are needed.
Deputy Bernardo Ríos Cheno (Morena) stated that crime is a matter of concern for all countries in the world, since it is a symptom of inequality in societies and the growth of crime has cost thousands of lives, the disintegration of families and fragmentation of the social fabric.
He stressed that the opinion seeks to fill gaps in social rehabilitation and promote actions for the social and family context once those under 18 years of age incarcerated in prisons have served their sentence, since “crime has concentrated its attention on children. to recruit her and force her to participate in the commission of crimes.”