Argentina adopts reiterancy rule to tighten preventive detention criteria

José René Galassi, president of the Argentine College of Lawyers, explained that the new reiterancy provision added by Law No. 27 785 allows judges and prosecutors to consider multiple open criminal cases against the same suspect when evaluating the need for preventive detention. The measure aims to strengthen risk assessment in the penal system without infringing the constitutional presumption of innocence, distinguishing reiterancy from recidivism, which requires a prior conviction.

The reform modifies the Penal Code and the Federal Criminal Procedure Code, giving authorities an additional legal basis to request pre‑trial imprisonment when a person faces several ongoing investigations, even if none have resulted in a final sentence.