Childhood Behind Bars. Discourses and Practices around Reform Schools in Chile (1896-1928)

Abstract

: This article proposes that, between the end of the 19th century and 1928, Chilean Reform Schools were the result of the emergence of a discourse on juvenile delinquency. They were intended to be spaces for the care and rehabilitation of minors and, through their distinctly scholastic character, to move away from the purely punitive approach of adult prisons towards a rehabilitative or re-educational approach. However, the discourse partially penetrated institutional practices and current regulations, due to the lack of economic resources and the absence of adequate legislation that would allow for the effective re-education of child and juvenile offenders.