De la sospecha policial al legajo judicial. Conflictividad penal juvenil en Santiago del Estero, Argentina

Abstract

In this article, I present results from a doctoral research study in which I adopted an ethnographic perspective to examine the social and institutional production of young people as dangerous offenders. I conducted a multispatial ethnography (Marcus, 2001), following the trajectories of young individuals across a working-class neighborhood, police stations, and the criminal justice system in the province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina. In particular, I pay attention to the exercise of police discretion with the aim of exploring the interconnections and integration dynamics between police actions and the judicial processes initiated against these young individuals.