Juvenicide and the Politics of Youth Killings

This book offers the first comprehensive English-language exploration of juvenicide, a concept that examines the killing of young people as a form of structural violence rather than ordinary homicide. While the term has circulated widely in Latin American scholarship, this volume brings together leading voices to consolidate its theoretical foundations and demonstrate its relevance across diverse contexts.

The book is organized into four sections that collectively map the field of juvenicide studies. The first section establishes the conceptual framework and situates juvenicide within contemporary crises affecting youth. The second examines intersectional dimensions, including age, gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity, to show how these factors shape vulnerability to lethal violence. The third section analyzes institutional structures—state power, neoliberal policies, education systems, and criminal apparatus—that enable and normalize juvenicide. The final section turns to resistance, documenting collective struggles that challenge the disposability of young lives in countries such as El Salvador, Argentina, and Colombia.

By framing juvenicide as a “total social fact,” the volume illuminates the political, structural, and symbolic forces that render certain youth populations expendable under neoliberal capitalism. Combining empirical research with conceptual innovation, this book provides critical insights for scholars of youth and violence, policymakers, and practitioners. It also serves as a valuable resource for courses on inequality, violence, and social justice in Latin America and beyond.