Baixar - Proppi - UFF

Abstract
This dissertation studies the administration of justice in suburban Buenos Aires,
Argentina. The work focuses on how judicial officers carry out the process of
investigation and the criminal proceedings. The goal is to identify how the judicial
officers’ life-histories, social and institutional positions, and professional and political
ideologies influence their interaction with the people who are involved in the cases, the
nature of the conflicts, other professional officers and the law when guiding the
investigation, building and interpreting the “evidence,” and making the decisions
corresponding to each case. The dissertation highlights the relation between the
administration of justice and the moralities underlying its practice.
These questions are approached through the presentation of several cases that I had the
chance to witness, emphasizing the narratives of judicial officers, police officers, and
attorneys. The work draws from these narratives to identify two native categories:
“barrio” (neighborhood) and “creencia” (belief). Throughout the dissertation I seek to
account for both the meanings attached to these categories and their implications for the
administration of justice in suburban Buenos Aires.
Keywords: justice – moralities – conflict – neighborhood - Argentina
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