Youth justice in peacebuilding contexts: barriers to justice for children in armed violence in Colombia

Tove Nyberg

Chapter 15 in Research Handbook on Youth Criminology, 2025, pp 258-276 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter examines youth justice reforms in light of recent peacebuilding policy and alternative justice initiatives in Colombia. The Colombian youth justice system has undergone a political and institutional transformation over the last decade. Criticism of the lack of child rights-informed policy and practice in the old system paved the way for a new comprehensive law in 2006 that built on principles from the CRC and other international instruments on youth justice. Since then, the system has faced implementation challenges mainly because of widespread urban and rural armed violence, often involving recruited children who are frequently prosecuted. Through a policy content analysis and using socio-legal youth justice theory, the chapter critically examines the mechanisms employed to divert children from prosecution who have been recruited or used by armed groups. The Colombian experiences can help us understand the complexity and pitfalls of youth justice responses to children in a hybrid conflict context. As such conflicts are increasingly common worldwide, the Colombian experience can be drawn upon at an international level.

Keywords: Armed violence; Child rights; Colombia; Diversion; Victims (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035300747
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