Gender sensitive criminal justice in practice- addressing structural injustice? A qualitative study on the impact of Colombia’s Ley de Utilidad Pública

Abstract

This qualitative study evaluates the first gender-specific law in Colombia, Ley de Utilidad Pública, from the perspective of implementing actors in the Medellín-area. This law, enacted in 2023, allows certain women to conduct community service instead of serving a prison sentence. This study asks how this law addresses the structures that brought many of these women to the criminal justice system. It uses Iris Marion Young’s (2011) theory of structural injustice to analyze this law within the broader structures it operates within. Reintegration will be used as a lens through which the law’s impact is assessed. Data mainly consists of interviews from three actors that work with the implementation of this law. This is complemented with observations at the organization CCC that offers community service. Data was analyzed thematically and identified different limitations and opportunities for these women. This study will use Young’s (2011) framework on structural injustice to argue that the structures that marginalized these women remain unchanged and that Ley de Utilidad Pública’s gendered framing might risk reproducing these unjust structures. It will also conclude that CCC as an implementing actor make a meaningful contribution to reintegrate these women but are still structurally limited.