Doctoral Dissertation Research: Juvenile Delinquents and the Construction of a Puerto Rican Subject

拉丁美洲和加勒比地区的学者长期以来一直认为，法律和法律制度的兴起是现代国家形成过程的核心。尽管对现代法律制度给予了认真的关注，但学者们忽视了其中的一个重要方面：针对儿童和青年的新法律制度和程序的出现。尽管对青少年违法行为的担忧在19世纪末出现，但这一体系的这一方面一直被忽视，当时正是拉丁美洲激烈的建国和国家建设时期。对该地区少年司法系统及其机构的研究才刚刚开始。这个项目研究青年如何成为新的纪律措施的目标。该项目以波多黎各为例，研究当代拉丁美洲对儿童和青少年违法行为的关注是如何以及为什么出现和演变的。它分析了在国家形成的背景下，国家机构的创建，以起诉，遏制和改革犯罪青年。本项目采用文化、社会和法律史的方法，研究以下问题：1)青少年犯罪是如何被构想和定义的，又是由谁来定义的？制定了哪些措施、政策和制度来处理少年犯？3)“少年犯”和一般儿童是如何经历这些措施的？这个项目有几个相关的原因。首先，它将揭示少年司法制度的发展在多大程度上反映和促进了拉丁美洲的国家和公民观念。第二，它将把儿童和青年作为了解该地区国家形成过程的重要研究对象。最后，由于本研究将使用波多黎各的案例作为案例研究，它将扩展当前对当代殖民关系的理解。

Scholars of Latin America and the Caribbean have long considered the law and the rise of legal institutions as central to the process of modern nation making. Despite the careful attention paid to modern legal systems, scholars have overlooked an important aspect of it: the emergence of new legal systems and processes targeting children and youth. This facet of the system has been overlooked despite the fact that concerns about youth transgressions emerged at the end of the 19th century, a period of intense nation-making and state-building in Latin America. Research on juvenile justice systems and their institutions in the region is just beginning. This project studies how the youth became a target of new disciplinary measures. The project uses Puerto Rico as a case study to examine how and why concerns about children and youth transgressions emerged and evolved in contemporary Latin America. It analyzes the creation of state institutions to prosecute, contain, and reform delinquent youth in the context of nation formation. Using methods from cultural, social and legal history, this project investigates the following questions: 1) How was juvenile delinquency conceived and defined, and by whom? 2) What practices, policies and institutions were developed to deal with juvenile delinquents? 3) How did "juvenile delinquents" and children in general, experience these measures? This project is relevant for several reasons. First, it will reveal the extent to which the development of juvenile justice systems reflected and contributed to notions of nation and citizenship in Latin America. Second, it will place children and youth as essential subjects of study for understanding the process of nation making in the region. Finally, because this research will use the case of Puerto Rico as a case study, it will expand upon current understandings about colonial relations in contemporary times.