Abstract
The presidency of the Frente Amplio in 2005 generated high expectations in large part of Uruguayan society. Due to their “sensibility”, a shift towards the rights approach and a process of decriminalization was expected. In the beginning, the new government made substantial changes, although not without tension and brakes. Then, perhaps surprisingly, heavy-handed policies were increased. The "adolescents" were, among others, the recipients of the punitive turn, even though they had far from explaining crime and criminality. The present research intends to problematize these subjects studying the left-wing criminal policies in the case of the special juvenile justice system during the governments of the Frente Amplio (2005-2020) in Uruguay. It is about showing the “sensibilities” that guided the criminal public policies of the government party and the possible explanations for this. The research realizes a descriptive study based on the triangulation of quantitative and qualitative research techniques.
Keywords
juvenile justice; criminal policies; Uruguay