Between Garantismo and Neoliberalism: Chilean Drug Treatment Courts and the Necropolitical Shadow of Colliding Paradigms

Abstract: 

Drug treatment courts are a diversionary form of justice involving judicially monitored treatment for low-level offenders with problematic substance use. Recent decades have seen the rapid diffusion of these programmes across various jurisdictions, including in the Global South. Nevertheless, significant research gaps remain on the potential ideological elusiveness of these programmes, its impact over the behaviour of legal actors and over the rehabilitation culture they produce. Drawing on elite interviews and court observations, this presentation departs from US/ Northern-centric critiques and instead examines these aspects within the under-explored context of Chilean drug treatment courts. It finds that these programmes emerge and evolve in Chile at the intersection of two distinct, colliding paradigms. On the one hand, the development of drug treatment courts is influenced by garantismo, a more progressive paradigm which, in the context of democratic transition, has emphasised due process and the integration of rights-driven justice mechanisms in accordance with international conventions. On the other hand, neoliberalism has shaped the criminal justice system to be a ‘meat-grinder’, focused on processing cases quickly and delivering fast results. It has also fostered the rise of penal populism, increasing pressure for tough on crime approaches. The presentation argues that this persistent elusiveness impacts drug court staff who come to perform dual, opposing roles and that, in the context of this duality, rehabilitation takes a necropolitical shape. The rehabilitative environment of the courts becomes a site of social, civil death-making, as well as a deathworld in itself, despite the ‘garantista’ sensibilities of legal and therapeutic actors. 

Bio:

Iulia is a DPhil in Criminology candidate at the University of Oxford. Her doctoral research focuses on investigating the implementation of drug treatment courts in Chile, particularly through the lens of punishment and the application of non-adversarialist mindsets in judicial team-building. Iulia wishes to examine the extent to which the specificities of Chilean policy design offer protections against penal abuses and shape the kind of agency juveniles can display in relation to treatment and rehabilitation. By adopting a marginal realist perspective, this thesis aims to bring to the forefront insights from the Global South that can aid in the development of future policy initiatives. The research is conducted under the supervision of Professor Rachel Condry and is funded by the ESRC Grand Union DTP studentship.

Iulia holds a first class BA degree in History and Politics of the Americas from University College London and an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Oxford where she graduated with distinction. In line with her research interests, she has advocated in favour of active youth participation in the making of drug policy at the United Nations. As a civil society representative, she served as the UN Global Fellow for Students for Sensible Drug Policy and as an Executive Member of the New York NGO Committee on Drugs. In these positions, she represented youth in civil society interventions at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. She also worked with key stakeholders, including diplomatic delegations, UNODC officers and fellow advocates.