Life and Private Property: A Sociological Inquiry about the Functioning of the Argentinean Criminal System

ABSTRACT

Life and Private Property: A Sociological Inquiry about the Functioning of the Argentinean Criminal System explores the way in which this criminal system structures the relation and hierarchies between two main values in contemporary societies: individual life and private property. To this end, we analyze how murders and attacks against property are punished. Firstly, we will consider the penalties established in the penal code. Later, since there is an important distance between what written law prohibits and the effective way in which the judiciary operates, we will analyze and compare sentences for murder and for robbery.

Keywords:
individual life; private property; murder; robbery; Argentinean criminal system