Proceedings of “little judges” in juvenile courts of the city of Cordoba, Argentina, at the beginning of the XXI century

Abstract

Based on the analysis of a legal dossier in Juvenile Court of the city of Córdoba, Argentina, between 2004 and 2008, this work aims to show that restricting analysis to the study of legal/institutional design and/or doctrinal debates is not sufficient to understand the forms of judicial control over “minors not in conflict with criminal laws”. It focuses on state acts that (re)produce subaltern positions by means of specific techniques of minorization, not only concerning those that are legally defined as “minors” but also their parents and/or guardians. It considers how, by means of administrative procedures, guardians and minors are materially and morally articulated, in processes resulting in the relative minority or partial incapacitation of those that are responsible for these minors.