Argentina
Judicial Stay Lifted on New Juvenile Criminal Regime in Buenos Aires
The Lomas de Zamora Court of Appeals and Guarantees set aside the injunction that had suspended application of Law 27,801 in the province for 60 days. The court held that a national law cannot be broadly halted through a precautionary measure.
Division I of the Criminal Court of Appeals and Guarantees in Lomas de Zamora overturned the injunction that had suspended for 60 days the application of Law 27,801, which establishes the new Juvenile Criminal Regime, in the province of Buenos Aires.
The decision was made by granting the appeal filed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office against the ruling by Juvenile Criminal Responsibility Judge No. 2, Marta Pascual, who had halted the entry into force of the law following a preventive and collective habeas corpus petition promoted by a civil association.
According to various media outlets, the original filing warned that the material and institutional conditions were not in place to implement the new regime, especially because it includes adolescents aged 14 and 15. It also pointed to problems in Buenos Aires detention centers, including poor infrastructure, overcrowding, and shortages in food, drinking water, education and vocational training.
According to the court’s ruling, those objections are not enough to broadly suspend a law enacted by Congress. The judges stressed that laws approved through constitutional mechanisms carry a presumption of legitimacy and that any debate over their possible unconstitutionality must be resolved in specific cases.
In that sense, the court held that judges cannot set aside, even provisionally, a national law with general scope across an entire territory. To support that position, it cited the Supreme Court precedent “Thomas,” on the limits of injunctions against laws enacted by the Legislative Branch.
The Court of Appeals clarified, however, that lifting the injunction does not mean disregarding the situation of adolescents deprived of liberty in the province. It noted that if a concrete violation of rights or a worsening of detention conditions is verified, the judge with authority over the young person must intervene to order urgent measures. It also urged the provincial administration to ensure the resources needed to comply with constitutional and conventional standards of protection.
According to C5N, the ruling also ordered the trial judge to review her jurisdiction to continue intervening in the collective habeas corpus case.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with assistance from artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this fact.
