Teenagers deprived of freedom for ten years

Punitive aggravation under Law 19,889 (LUC)

Abstract

The punitive toughening that has been developed in juvenile criminal justice since 2011 and that has had a significant aggravation under the Urgent Consideration Act (LUC) constitutes a flagrant violation of the rules of Domestic Law and International Human Rights Law. In the case of adolescents subject to criminal law, the sanctions applied should be characterized by exceptionality (measure of last resort), non-regressivity in the field of human rights, the minimum duration and shortness of deprivation of liberty (for the shortest appropriate period), proportionality of the sentence and periodic review. Specifically, the increase in the legal maximum to ten years of deprivation of liberty, inevitably leads us to think about the difficulties in complying with the regulations and principles enunciated. During this extended period, it becomes more difficult to achieve rehabilitation, readaptation and resocialization in the socially and legally expected terms. How to comply with the provisions of Article 102 of the Code of Children and Adolescents (CNA)? That is, how to counteract the harmful effects of institutionalization? And how to promote the integration of adolescents into society?