Abstract
In its recent history, Chile has developed several reforms to its justice system.Amongst them, the reform to youth justice has taken place and its effects have yet to be fully investigated.
This thesis analyses the origins and impact of legal reform in the youth justice field. The policy-making process is examined to discover which elements have had influence over the policy and implementation. Youth justice reform in Chile was propelled by the re-democratisation process undertaken following Pinochet leaving government and the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, both events occurred in 1990.
The research objectives of this thesis are addressed using a mixed methods strategy in which primary and secondary qualitative and quantitative data are analysed. I have reviewed the parliamentary debate of the new Act and have interviewed key experts to analyse the context of the reform, as well as comparing judicial files for young people, processed by courts located in Santiago de Chile before and after the reform, which will help to reveal the changes in the legal procedure.
From exploring the policy-making process of this reform, I have reached two main conclusions. First, in a democratic context a series of stakeholders have to reach agreements responding to external forces that can be, as in this case, highly contradictory. For Chilean youth justice reform, two predominant groups holding opposite views have been identified: one group sought to adapt local legislation to international standards while the other tried to use this piece of legislation to demonstrate that something was being done about crime control.
Findings from the case analysis show that while improvements to the procedure are effectively happening, there are a series of problems that need to be resolved in order to accomplish the objectives that the current Act contains (of holding young people responsible for their offences and simultaneously offering programmes that would favour their social reintegration).
| Date of Award | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Mike Hough (Supervisor) & Benjamin Bowling (Supervisor) |