An analysis of criminal selectivity, indigenous peoples and green harms in Argentina

Authors

  • Valeria Vegh Weis Universidad de Buenos Aires

Abstract

The present paper aims to offer critical analytical tools (criminal selectivity, over-criminalization, under-criminalization) in order to push forward the development of a critical green southern criminology. Using Argentina as a case study, the article develops the notion of criminal selectivity to expose the biased functioning of the criminal justice system. On the one hand, the article explores how crime control is being intensively used to the detriment of the indigenous peoples claiming for their rights, despite the fact that their protests are not producing significant social harm and are even framed within constitutional rights. This phenomenon, as the article argues, might be referred to as over-criminalization. On the other hand, the study exposes how the criminal justice system is not used to prosecute neither green harms perpetrated by corporations nor the unlawful use of force against native peoples by law enforcement agencies, in spite of the severe harm that those behaviors produce against the environment and the lives and physical integrity of the communities. This process might be referred to, arguably, as under-criminalization. Overall, the article exposes how the Argentinean criminal justice system is targeting the most vulnerable peoples while failing to provide environmental protections as a case study that reflects the biased functioning of the criminal justice systems in the Global South.

Published

2019-05-01