Abstract
Based upon archival sources located in Mexico, this thesis represents a focused attempt at analyzing the factors affecting the punishment of juvenile offenders in late 1920s and early 1930s Mexico City. I argue that different crimes, homicide, prostitution, and rape, merited punishments that were prescribed to uniquely fit a suspect based on elite views of what represented the model family, education, and sexual behavior.
The elite views were represented by state officials in the Tribunal para Menores, a court established in January 1927, to specifically deal with minors, legally defined as anyone under the age of 18. Prior to the establishment of the Tribunal para Menores, minors were adjudicated in adult courts and placed in adult correctional facilities. However, the Tribunal represented the first attempt in Mexico City to separate child from adult. Correctional schools were established that solely housed minors and in most cases, prison sentences alongside adults were no longer acceptable. Instead, minors were placed in correctional schools where the ultimate goal was rehabilitation so minors could re-enter society as productive members of the nation.
|
