Citation

Llamas NE, Marinaro JÁ. Front. Psychol. 2020; 11: e302.

Affiliation

Department of Law and Political Science, National University of La Matanza, San Justo, Argentina.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Frontiers Research Foundation)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00302

PMID

32158419

PMCID

PMC7052333

Abstract

Due to the new discoveries and advances made in technology in the field of neuroscience in the last few decades, it has been possible to get a better understanding of the development of the human brain. This has had a significant impact on youth criminal law, especially in relation to the behavior of adolescents and their capacity to control impulsive reactions.

In this article, we will discuss the repercussions of this improved understanding on the amount of penalty for convicted adolescents in Latin America.

It is important to mention that the minimum age of criminal responsibility on each country of this region is quite different (mostly between 12 and 16 years old). Despite this and other divergences, we think it is possible to make an approach from the point of view of the Inter-American Human Rights System ...

Language: en

Keywords: Juvenile justice

Keywords

capital punishment; juvenile crime and delinquency; juvenile criminal behavior; juvenile criminal law; life imprisonment; life imprisonment without parole; neurolaw; youth criminal law