Abstract

CASTELLS, Florencia Claudia. Women and violent crimes: experiences and practices in Buenos Aires peace justice (Mercedes, 1903-1921). Rev. Pilquen. secc. cienc. soc. [online]. 2018, vol.21, n.2, pp.68-82. ISSN 1851-3123.

The aim is to carry out an analysis on crimes considered violent, such as injuries, aggressions and brawling, produced by women towards adult males, through the experiences around correctional peace justice processes of the Mercedes city, between the period of years from 1903 to 1921 In 1903, from the Reformation to the Penal Code, it was tried to face the increasing criminality from the raise of the severity in the punishment. Through its practices, peace justice allowed tempering this increase in penalties. For its part, the study focuses on the peace court of Mercedes, head of the judicial department Center, privileging a regional and decentralized view of the national past, and at the same time inserting research into the more general framework of the configuration of the state in the province of Buenos Aires. Specifically, the meanings of gender and violence present in peace justice processes are analyzed, focusing on the historical constructions of the moralities of the women in question and the meanings of the period on the mentioned crimes. The views and decisions of peace justice officials are observed, who put into practice the procedures of peace justice; and the positions of the same processed, and who reinterpreted the regulations, looking for strategies that would allow them to obtain better results before the courts. This, taking into accounts that, the institutional transformations and coding processes coexisted with social hierarchies guided by the attributes of honor and neighborhood.

Keywords : Peace Justice; Women; Violence; Morality; Neighborhood.