Crime and the Administration of Justice in Buenos Aires, 1785 1853, analyzes the emergence of the criminal justice system in modern Argentina, focusing on the city of Buenos Aires as a case study. It concentrates on the formative period of the postcolonial penal system, from the installation of the second Audiencia (the superior justice tribunal in the viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata) in 1785 to the promulgation of the Argentine national constitution in 1853, when a new phase of interregional organization and codification began.

During this transitional period, basic features...