Criminal law more humane with adolescents who have infringed the law

Abstract

Crime presents today a very complex network. Therefore, it is easy to prosecute the youngsters with indigenous features or afro origin who are already stigmatized and belong to lower social classes. In those cases “dangerousness” is always seen. Capitalist system needs to build the image of a young fearful delinquent that justifies repression. Grievance and humiliation are suffered by the youngsters as they don´t have proper advocacy because their participation and voices are constrained in the formal democracy we build. Argentine law reflects a poor elaboration of penal law as it has just limited to discuss the downgrade of the age of criminal responsibility. It´s time for a cultural change to give rise to an integral protection paradigm that allows systematically working on extrajudicial restorative processes , assuring the youngsters responsibility and a response to the victims and the community through specialized in childhood mediators. Prosecution should be exceptional, specialized, promote restorative justice, reflect over the impact of law in youngsters and anticipate penalties aiming on freedom.