Buenos Aires, December 1, 2025 – Total News Agency (TNA) – The government will advance in a high-impact political and judicial reform: corruption crimes will be declared imprescriptible, a status until now reserved for crimes against humanity and attacks on the democratic order. However, there is a general consensus that the Penal Code must be updated.
A 20th-Century Penal Code The reform includes profound changes: • Simple homicide: 10 to 30 years. • Aggravated homicide: life imprisonment for cases involving authorities, police, teachers, children, or incidents in schools, stadiums, or prisons. • Child pornography: up to 12 years. • Human trafficking: up to 15 years. • New crimes: stealthing, sexual harassment, revenge porn. • "Motochorro" or "viuda negra" robberies: non-commutable sentences of up to 10 years. • Pyramid scheme scams: explicit criminalization. • Aggressions during demonstrations: 2 to 5 years; if against police, 3 to 9 years.
Additionally, the participation of victims in the criminal process is expanded, and sanctions for false complaints in family or gender conflicts are aggravated.
A Strategic Reform in a Political Key Presented by Milei and Bullrich at the Ezeiza prison before judges and prosecutors, the new Penal Code is an emblem of the "law and order" discourse promoted by the government. The initiative will be incorporated into the new Penal Code that the Executive Branch will send to Congress during the extraordinary December sessions, official sources confirmed. The measure appears as one of the central axes of the project drafted by the commission of jurists headed by Judge Mariano Borinsky, with the direct participation of Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona, Deputy Minister Sebastián Amerio, and final contributions from the team of Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, where imprescriptibility was ultimately incorporated. Although the Ministry of Justice maintains that the initiative "is under study," high-level sources in Security confirmed to TNA that the clause will be part of the final text.
What Will Change with the Reform Today, crimes prescribe when a period equivalent to their maximum sentence passes without a firm conviction. The current Penal Code dates from 1921 and has been patched over a thousand times. It is a mechanism linked to the right to be judged within a reasonable time. However, the government considers that corruption—especially in the management of public funds—should receive the same legal treatment as the most serious crimes. The imprescriptibility of corruption, in particular, aims to send a message both inside and outside the political system: no crime against the State will go unpunished simply by the passage of time. If approved, the reform will mark a historic break. The reform will not be retroactive.
The project also significantly aggravates penalties: • Illicit enrichment: up to 15 years in prison (currently 6). • Bribery: up to 10 years in jail.
Structural reforms are also added: effective fulfillment of sentences, reduction of paroles, stricter limits for early release, and expansion of minimum sentences that will force effective imprisonment in most crimes.
Judicial Precedents and an Unfinished Debate The discussion on the imprescriptibility of corruption is not new. Thus, any future complaint for acts of corruption committed after the new Code comes into force will be imprescriptible, with no possibility of being extinguished by the passage of time. Relevant rulings put it on the table: • In 2016, the La Plata Federal Chamber declared these crimes imprescriptible, with Elisa Carrió as amicus curiae. • In 2018, Cassation reopened the IBM-DGI case, revoking the statute of limitations. The Supreme Court later overturned that ruling, not for rejecting imprescriptibility, but because—according to the highest court—the votes that declared it did not form a valid majority. The new Code seeks to end that gray area.
Expedited Legislative Procedure The government will send the project through a bicameral commission, the same mechanism used to approve the Civil and Commercial Code. The government seeks to replace it with an integral, modern text with much harsher penalties. This would allow for a joint opinion from deputies and senators, shortening parliamentary times.
The Interior Minister, Diego Santilli, has already included the reform in his round of negotiations with governors, along with the Budget and the labor reform.
From the Ministry of Justice, they admit there will be resistance: "Kirchnerism will reject changes in legitimate defense, police role, and crimes with weapons."
