The invisibility of girl child and adolescent in the juvenile justice system and in the juvenile criminal process

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze whether a gender perspective has been incorporated into the specific field of juvenile justice and juvenile criminal proceedings. To this end, an examination is carried out of the main legal texts and instruments on the subject -at international, European and national level-, checking whether there are provisions that expressly refer to the need to apply a gender approach in the juvenile criminal process or in the execution of the measures imposed by judicial decision; and, where appropriate, whether provisions have been included that establish specific mechanisms that allow for their effective implementation in practice. All of this allows us to confirm the historical insensitivity of legal texts to gender issues and to conclude that the invisibility of the girl and adolescent offender in these texts has been twofold: because she is a woman and because she is a child.