Populismo punitivo: manifestación política vs. Derecho penal. La cadena perpetua en Colombia

Abstract

This article addresses, first, populism as a phenomenon described by political science and sociology, highlighting its main features and the tension it creates with democracy. Thereafter, a theoretical examination of the concept of penal populism from the perspective of crime policy is presented, in order to evaluate how this irrational expansion of criminal law negatively impacts certain principles and guarantees that limit the ius puniendi. Lastly, these theoretical insights are utilized in the case of the Colombian constitutional amendment that allows the application of life imprisonment as penalty for certain serious crimes, to determine whether this amendment can be considered populist.