La production de la légalité dans la justice pénale argentine et les usages de la forme légale dans une perspective comparative

Abstract

Based on an ethnography carried out in criminal justice system of Buenos Aires province, Argentina, in this article I examine what I call the production of legality in the investigative processes. In 1998, the reform of criminal procedure strengthened the role of the Public Ministry by separating the powers of investigation and judgement, which had previously been concentrated in the hands of a single judge. Taking this development as a starting point, I seek to show how prosecutors and police officers strive to adapt the various investigative procedures implemented in the case-investigation during the pre-trial stage. This discussion is based on the method of contrastive comparison with other ethnographic experiences of the public security and criminal justice system in Rio de Janeiro. Through this approach, I intend to help show how different uses of the legal framework lead to distinct modes of evidence production and relationships between the institutions of the justice system.

Keywords

• ethnography
• justice
• law
• criminal investigation
• legal traditions
• Argentina