The new criminal act anda much necessary revision of the requirements of juvenile criminal liability

Abstract

This work propounds that on the grounds of constitutional and international law, the State of Chile is under the obligation to establish a differentiated and essentially more benign juvenile Criminal Justice System. This obligation entails the instauration of a specialised punishment system as well as a differentiated system of requirements of criminal liability. Since Chilean Act N" 20.084 only deals with the first aspect, it is the scholars' task — hrough interpretation— to formulate the "General Part" for Juvenile Criminal Law. Towards this end, the present work tests various potential adaptations of the current system for adults to the juvenile age group, both on the fields of the legal wrong and mens rea.