Abstract

JALILE, Eleonora. Criminalizing and racialization of poor childhood in Catamarca. Rev. Mex. Sociol [online]. 2023, vol.85, n.2, pp.401-429.  Epub May 05, 2023. ISSN 2594-0651.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iis.01882503p.2023.2.60564.

This article analyzes, from a legal sociology perspective, the processes of criminalization and racialization as mechanisms of subalternization of vulnerable children in the province of Catamarca, Argentina. Using a qualitative strategy, it interprets the meanings and signifiers that construct the legal and social labeling categories of “delinquent children” and how they are intertwined with the subordination of a social group. It reveals the selectivity of the penal process and the discriminatory practice of the police and administrative bodies specialized in children. It makes visible the racist construction of the punishable subject, whose intersecting discrimination delimits their political position and limits the enjoyment of their fundamental rights.

Keywords : subalternization; race; criminalization of children and adolescents.