Reforma a la justicia penal juvenil y adolescentes privados de libertad en Chile: Aportes empíricos para el debate

This article aims at providing and analyzing empirical data regarding the criminal juvenile system in Chile seven years after the coming into effect of Act N^o 20084 (which established the juvenile criminal responsibility system in Chile). One of the goals of this reform was to adequate the criminal juvenile justice legislation to international human rights standards, that include the principles of exceptional and moderate use of criminal law and of using confinement only as ultima ratio. Our data indicate that after the coming into effect of the juvenile justice reform, the adolescent confinement rate has increased in absolute terms (i.e., in terms of the total number of adolescents in confinement) and in relative terms in comparison with the adult population in criminal confinement. We conclude that the criminal juvenile justice reform, as currently configurated, has probably contributed to this result.