Postneoliberalismo y policía en América del Sur.

Abstract

Como es sabido desde fines de los años 1990s procesos de cambio político decisivo emergieron en diversos contextos nacionales de América del Sur, ligados al ascenso de alianzas y programas políticos construidos en torno a vocabularios vinculados más o menos estrechamente a las tradiciones locales de la Izquierda, con distintos niveles de radicalidad e importantes diferencias entre sí, ligadas también al conjunto de elementos que integraban la situación política peculiar de cada escenario...

A Postneoliberal Turn? Variants of the Recent Penal Policy in Argentina

“…This message was combined with an appeal for the need to prosecute the crimes of the powerful, such as corruption or tax evasion. After the inauguration of President Kirchner an official rhetoric from the national government developed that sought to move away from the dynamics of penal populism that had been installed in Argentina in the mid-1990s, echoing his discourses during the election campaign (Sozzo 2016a). …”

“…These became known not only in political and media discourses but also in academia as the 'Blumberg reforms'. The severity of punishment was increased for several types of offenses: the access to parole and temporary releases for certain convicts was blocked; and the use of prison on remand as a precautionary measure was increased (Sozzo 2016a). These legal changes and the strong presence of the claims for increasing punitiveness in the public and political debate helped prolong a 'climate' (Sparks 2003a: 32) among criminal justice officials, especially judges and prosecutors, around the need to increase the severity of their daily decisionmaking with regard to the imposition of prison on remand and penality.…”

“…This reference, which was repeated endlessly in the media, produced a strong message that allowed certain social sectors, confronting specific manifestations of the crime problem and from the experience of being victims, to establish themselves as representatives of that entity, 'the people', and from there pose a series of demands in the penal field. In other words, the wave of 'penal populism from below' was cemented by the previous wave of 'penal populism from above', as the first prepared the way for the second, thus making it possible (Sozzo 2016a(Sozzo : 203, 2016b.…”

“…This found expression and concentration in 'street crime'. Since the second half of the 1990s, street crimes seemed to be experiencing some growth, especially in the two jurisdictions of the City and the Province of Buenos Aires, both epicenters of the emergence of the waves of penal populism, although the available evidence does not entirely support this (Sozzo 2005(Sozzo , 2012(Sozzo , 2016a(Sozzo , 2016b. However, similar to Katherine Beckett (1997), I believe it is necessary to avoid the naive interpretation that automatically ties the increase in street crime to the increased concern of citizens and the increased punitive demand, what Beckett defined as 'the democracy at work thesis'.…”

Punishment, Democracy and Transitional Justice in Argentina (1983-2015)

“…In the election campaign of 2003, Nestor Kirchner, the future president, linked insecurity as a social problem resulting from the crisis, and unemployment and poverty as generated by the neoliberal reforms of the 1990s; he also criticized economic crime and promoted prosecution of IJCJ&SD 97 Online version via www.crimejusticejournal.com © 2017 6(1) crimes of the powerful (Sozzo 2016a(Sozzo : 193-94, 2016b. These views were contrary to those of the other leading candidate, the former president Menem.…”