Judges of execution of penalties, criminal surrogates and prison overcrowding

Abstract

This paper presents the results obtained in a field work carried out in the year 2013, in which it was tried to study the role of the execution judges of penalties within the problematic of prison overcrowding. Fieldwork included different research methods, such as collection of documentation, analysis of court decisions and interviews with judges. The purpose was to identify the legal and social patterns that influence the decision-making of judges of execution of penalties to apply criminal surrogates. Identifying these aspects of sentencing judges is relevant to the debate over prison overcrowding, bearing in mind that these are the ones who ultimately decide on the application of alternative measures to the prison.