Reviewable perpetual prison in Nicaragua

Abstract

The reform to article 37 of the Nicaraguan Political Constitution and the reform and addition to the Nicaraguan Penal Code and the Comprehensive Law against Violence against Women, which incorporates, for the fi rst time in the history of Nicaraguan criminal law, as the main penalty Reviewable life imprisonment, “for the person convicted of serious crimes, when there are hateful, cruel, degrading, humiliating and inhuman circumstances that, due to their impact, cause shock, rejection, indignation, disgust in the national community,” obeys the popular outcry before the consternation at the occurrence of cruel crimes that were occurring in our nation, crimes motivated by misogyny and by exercising control over women, children and other vulnerable sectors. The incorporation of this new legal fi gure raises important questions in the fi eld of  Nicaraguan Criminal Law, such as the forms of its application, the way in which the benefi t of conditional release will be granted, the possibility that the sanction does not fulfi ll its objective. resocialization and rehabilitation of the sanctioned, and its effectiveness to prevent the commission of serious crimes.