President Claudia Sheinbaum signed and sent an initiative for a General Law to Prevent, Investigate, Punish and Repair the damage caused by femicide to Congress on Wednesday [1].

This legislative move aims to eliminate the legal discrepancies between different Mexican states. By establishing a single framework, the government seeks to ensure that women receive the same protections and that perpetrators face consistent justice regardless of where the crime occurred.

During a morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Sheinbaum said the initiative is designed to homologate the criminal type and investigation protocols across all 32 federal entities [2], [3]. The president said femicide is the most extreme form of violence and discrimination against women [4].

The proposed law introduces strict sentencing guidelines to deter the crime. According to the initiative, penalties for femicide could reach up to 70 years in prison [5]. Some reports indicate the proposed sentencing range may fall between 50 and 70 years [6].

Sheinbaum said the goal is to create a unified legal mechanism to pursue these crimes nationwide. The initiative focuses not only on the punishment of the offender, but also on the prevention of the violence and the reparation of damage to the victims' families [2], [7].

By standardizing the investigation process, the law intends to reduce the high rates of impunity often associated with gender-based killings in the region. The proposal now moves to the legislative branch for debate and approval [1], [8].

“"El feminicidio representa la forma más extrema de violencia y discriminación contra las mujeres."”

The move toward a General Law represents a shift from a fragmented state-by-state legal approach to a centralized federal standard. If passed, it would remove the 'legal lottery' where the severity of a sentence depended on the state jurisdiction, potentially streamlining prosecutions and increasing the pressure on local authorities to adhere to national investigation protocols.