Abstract

ROJAS SOSA, Odette María. “A Social Blot and a Danger”: Loitering and Vagrancy in Mexico City, 1931-1937. Secuencia [online]. 2023, n.115, e2011.  Epub Mar 17, 2023. ISSN 2395-8464.  https://doi.org/10.18234/secuencia.v0i115.2011.

This paper analyzes, on the one hand, how the concept of “dangerousness,” coined by criminology, influenced the creation of the criminal category of “loitering and vagrancy,” included in Article 255 of the 1931 Penal Code. At the same time, based on a review of judicial files, the persecution of vagrants and loiterers in Mexico City is examined between 1931, the year when the Penal Code was enacted and 1937, the year when a campaign by the authorities began to repress this crime. The article shows that during that period, the persecution and sanction of loitering and vagrancy went from being from a police and administrative matter to a judicialized activity that responded to the social prophylaxis policies of Cardenismo. Since the issue has barely been studied, this text seeks to contribute to the historiography of crime and transgression in post-revolutionary Mexico.

Keywords : vagrancy; loitering; dangerousness; criminal law; criminality.

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