Deputy Paul Ospital Carrera warned the LXI local Legislature that failing to legislate on the non-prescription of sexual offenses against minors is complicity. He recalled that on September 26, 2024, an initiative was presented that is still pending analysis. This is the second time the project has been promoted, as it was introduced in November 2023 during the previous three-year term without progressing in its discussion. After more than 5 months of inactivity on the project, the deputy urged not to postpone its ruling any longer.
He emphasized that the recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, stemming from a case in Yucatán, which declares that such offenses are non-prescriptive, reinforces the need to adapt the State Penal Code. Ospital Carrera highlighted the importance of preventing offenders from benefiting from the prescription of the crime when victims decide to report in the future. Although he is unaware of the reasons for the delay in the legislation, he stressed the widespread consensus in civil society about the urgency of the reform.
The deputy mentioned that it cannot be expected for minors to report their aggressors, who are 70% of the time close relatives, if there is a possibility that the crime could prescribe. He called for the protection of children and adolescents, both on social media and in the legal realm, to be considered a priority and fundamental. According to UN figures, in Mexico, one in five girls is sexually abused, and one in ten boys has suffered some type of abuse, highlighting the urgency of the reform.
At the national level, PAN senator Agustín Dorantes is promoting this reform at the federal level. Despite requesting support to standardize it in the state, his colleagues at the local level have not presented a similar project so far. The proposed reform modifies several articles of the Penal Code to ensure that sexual offenses against minors do not prescribe and that justice can be served for victims at any time.
