Elements of Punitive Populism in the Constitutional Reform Project on the Introduction of Perpetual Prison in Colombia

Abstract

Punitive populism is presented as a phenomenon where legislation is carried out outside of a study of criminal policy, on the contrary, the conjunctures that move social emotions are used to propose legislative acts that leave aside in disciplinary analysis of the matter to focus more well in particular interests, such as gaining recognition and therefore voters, thus, the objective of this investigative exercise is to unveil the possible elements of punitive populism in the constitutional reform project on the introduction of life imprisonment in Colombia, in this article postulates that punitive populism in contemporary times is detrimental to human dignity, which is the backbone of the 1991 political constitution. With a horizon like the previous one, in this research the position on punitive populism as manipulation of the social masses was raised, both ideologically and in a repressive way, so that it takes shape within the socio-legal research paradigm, whose method used is the socio-critical and the hermeneutic or interpretive, since these allow a reading from the text and the contexts to produce new knowledge in the field of criminal law and the philosophy of law, emerging new theoretical alternatives and application in the legal field, for human rights, inclusion and human dignity.