Abstract

GRBAVAC, Hernán D.. Interpretivism, “Chavela Vargas Doctrine” and Penal Populism. Opin. jurid. [online]. 2022, vol.21, n.44, pp.326-348.  Epub Mar 19, 2022. ISSN 1692-2530.  https://doi.org/10.22395/ojum.v21n44a16.

Penal populism has become, since the 1980s, the dominant paradigm for public security and crime control in the West. Generally, it is identified with reactionary speeches and “strong hand” against crime. However, I will justify that penal populism is compatible not only with right-wing penal populism but also with left-wing penal populism. I will remember the theory of populism of Laclau and, then, the particular notes of penal populism and the political and social context of its emergence and consolidation. Likewise, I will hold that certain characteristics of penal populism facilitate the validity of a practice regarding the application of criminal law: “interpretivism” and -its most visible face- the “Chavela Vargas doctrine of interpretation”. Along these lines, I will recall three judicial ruling of high Argentine courts that allow to account for the phenomenon of penal populism in court, namely, the use by judges of the “Chavela Vargas doctrine” and the deleterious effects that this brings rigged for the authority of law.

Keywords : penal populism; interpretation of law; judicial populism; legality principle; rule of law.

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