The Institute of Criminology and the “Mala Vida” between 1902-1911

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to describe three
medical records of the detainees Luis
Castruccio, Cayetano Santos Godino and
Alejandro Puglia that were produced in the
Institute of Criminology at the National
Penitentiary in Buenos Aires between 1907
and 1913 and published in the journal Archivos
de Psiquiatría, Criminología, Medicina Legal y
Ciencias Afines. In those records some aspects
can be related with the notion of “mala vida”
that included behaviors considered dangerous
between the crime and the madness and was
linked with categories of the criminal
psychopathological discipline that was
initiated in Argentina by José Ingenieros. For
that purpose we will describe the historical
context of the emergence of the notion of
“mala vida” in this period, aspects of prison
and theoretical models that converged on the
subject. In addition, we will refer to the
journal Archives, the National Penitentiary, the
functions of the Institute of Criminology, and,
finally, the medical records.