|
Abstract:
|
"Protecting Argentina" explores how the definitions of sexual crimes (rape , seduction , abduction and the corruption of minors ) changed in Argentine penal law during the process of congressional codification between 1853 and 1921 . It contextualizes an in -depth analysis of legal definitions within the legislative process and the shifting ideologies of criminology that influenced it . It argues that , as nineteenth century positivist criminology replaced Enlightenment -inspired "Classical" criminology , the meaning and foundational presupposition of these crimes shifted from those of their colonial predecessors . Where in colonial times "Acts of lechery" were criminal when committed against chaste women , in the republican era , the law punished "Crimes against honesty" when the victims were children . Liberal lawmakers defined these sexual acts primarily by the age of the victim and secondarily by the violence used in their perpetration . The year 1903 was a watershed in this process , as it marked Positivism's displacement of "Classical" criminology as the guiding ideology of criminal law . These conclusions suggest there were substantive correlations between elite campaigns to ensure the future of the nation by saving children and the codification of national criminal law undertaken by Congress . As argentine elites began to witness what they perceived to be the negative effects of modernization , rapid population growth , industrialization and the accompanying increase in crime , they sought to ensure the future of the nation through "child saving" campaigns . The increasingly age -based definitions of sexual crimes , which aimed to protect young victims , fit within the broader state -led campaign to protect future citizens . "Protecting Argentina" therefore suggests that historians should consider legislative processes of state building as forming an integral part of turn -of -the -century nationalist projects in Latin America . Tying together positivist penology , nationalist discourse , and congressional codification , this report places children at the center of Argentine elites' attempts to ensure the future of the nation through the protection of children . |