The legislature of the northern border state of Chihuahua unanimously passed several legal reforms that will punish those who kill on-duty police officers and journalists with life in prison, El Diario de Juárez and Milenio report.

The rule also allows life sentences for kidnapping, murdering multiple people, and extortion.

According to EFE, Chihuahua is the most violent state in Mexico and one of those most affected by drug trafficking. In Ciudad Juárez alone – the state’s largest city and the most dangerous in the country – there have been more than 2,300 murders this year.

César Duarte, the governor of Chihuahua praised the new law. “Extraordinary times require extraordinary decisions,” he said, quoted by the Associated Press

For more news about violence against journalists in Mexico, see this Knight Center map.