MARCH 2, 2020

Gabriela’s Law is passed, introducing harsher sentences in cases of femicide

The law defines femicide as the murder of a woman by her partner or former partner regardless of whether they live or have lived together and sets penalties that range from 15 years and 1 day to 40 years in prison.

On Monday, President Sebastián Piñera and First Lady Cecilia Morel attended a ceremony during which the President signed Gabriela’s Law. The new legislation expands the legal definition of femicide and increases penalties for cases involving gender-based violence.

“We must make a commitment to the dignity of life of every person and their physical safety under all circumstances, at all times, in all places,” said the President, who was accompanied by the family of Gabriela Alcaíno and her mother, Carolina Donoso, who were both murdered by the young woman’s former partner in 2018.

This law will punish violence against women and typifies crimes such as gender-based femicide, intimate partner femicide and aggravating factors that will lead to higher sentences. Those found guilty could be given sentences ranging from 15 years and 1 day to 40 years.

“This law closes a window of impunity,” said the President during a ceremony that was also attended by Women and Gender Equity Minister Isabel Plá; Minister Secretary-General of the Presidency Felipe Ward; and acting Justice Minister Sebastián Valenzuela.

President Piñera noted that the law significantly changes the categorization of femicide, which previously only applied to the murders of women by current or former live-in partners. The new legislation includes violence that may occur between partners who do not live together.

The new law also defines femicide as killing a woman because of her gender and introduces additional penalties for crimes involving pregnant women, minors or individuals with disabilities, when the crime is committed in the presence of family members or in the context of physical and psychological violence.

“Gabriela’s Law will deliver justice,” President Piñera stated.