Elite punitive populism and youth justice reform in Chile

Legitimizing a new political order

Bibliographic Data

ID11617469
AuthorsDaniela Rodriguez Gutierrez (0000-0001-6068-5628, University College Dublin, corresponding author)
Year2023
IssueXLIV/1
Pages171-196
Publication date2023-02-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArchiwum Kryminologii (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2719-4280 • E-ISSN: 0066-6890
PublisherPolish Scientific Publishers PWN (PUBLISHER • PL)
DOI10.7420/ak2021.25
OpenAlexW4401092856
LanguageEN
References cited53

Chilean youth justice went through a drastic reform process during the 2000s, it was the second radical youth justice reform movement in the country since the creation of the Law of Minors in 1928. The decision to reform took place as Chile transitioned and stabilized into democracy after the authoritarian regime of the 1970s and 1980s. Superficially, it seems this is just one more way of embracing democracy and Human Rights. However, after in depth documental analysis of both the reform and the socio-political context, this paper offers a different insight and an explanation for the sudden relevance of youth justice, as a tool used by authoritarian political elites that then filtered into the political elite of the new democracy. In this context, populism played a key role in spreading concerns about youth offending and the need for a new youth justice which worked to strengthen the legitimacy of authoritarian practices in the new Chilean democratic order. It was an elite-driven populism that transformed youth justice into a key social and political concern

Authoritarianism · Context (archaeology · Democracy · Economic Justice · Elite · Legitimacy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Populism · Sociology · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Education Discipline and Inequality · Law · Political and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin America