ABSTRACT
Over the years, Argentina has embraced several criminological theories produced in Europe and the US, but this has not always involved adapting these theories to the local setting, a setting that might be considered “marginal” from a global perspective. While the influence of penal abolitionism has been significant on a theoretical level in the local setting, it has not been a determinant in legal practice, nor has it been generative of substantial institutional transformation. In this chapter, we sketch out the situation of abolitionism in Argentina and point out some of the adaptations that the local movement could make to advance an abolitionist agenda. Following the recent examples of the human rights and feminist movements in Argentina, we argue that local abolitionism can develop a tactical use of the criminal justice system and implement forms of campaigning and communication that could produce counter-narratives on crime and criminalisation different from the discourses prevailing in the media and in criminal policy.
