Tolerancia cero y responsabilidad individual

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to expose a little developed aspect of the zero tolerance theory: in what sense the model proposed by the American authorities at the end of the 20th century constitutes an implicit recovery of classical anthropology, which places freedom, and therefore the possibility of attributing individual responsibilities, at the center of human action. To this end, the paper exposes the meaning of zero tolerance criminal policies, develops its starting point (the broken windows theory) and explains why it is considered a break in contemporary criminal doctrine, which tends in part to dilute individual responsibility through philosophical categories (such as post-structuralism) or empirical ones: applying notions from the social sciences to indicate that criminal responsibility is structural and responds to conditions external to the subject.