El principio de oportunidad en el proceso penal de menores (Análisis comparado de los Ordenamientos colombiano y español)

Abstract

The juvenile criminal process has been conceived as a special kind of process used to react to an action considered a less serious crime. This article aims to demonstrate that, although the recognition that has been done on the nature of the criminal procedural mechanism for the application of substantive criminal law to minors is an achievement in itself, yet this area of law requires a broader doctrinal development in countries like Spain and Colombia, where its application has been plagued by intrasystemic inconsistencies and the growing onslaught of punitive populism. Particularly with regard to the principle of expediency, the introduction of criteria for application in the procedural law for minors should be done facing reality and after a thorough analysis on the possibilities to advance a protective intervention for the child involving a real democratic alternative to the drama of traditional criminal process.