Temporal imprisonment for processed woman: analisis on the use of this cautelar institution from a gender perspective

Abstract

This article analyzes the application of pretrial detention to female defendants in Chile, focusing on the grounds set forth in letter c) of article 140 of the Chilean Code of Criminal Procedure. Using gender as a structural axis of analysis, it examines how judicial criteria for precautionary measures may reproduce inequalities when structural conditions that disproportionately affect women are disregarded. Factors such as economic precariousness, care burdens, exclusion from the labor market, and deeply rooted gender stereotypes contribute to a profile of heightened vulnerability, challenging the principles of proportionality, necessity, and rationality in decisions involving deprivation of liberty. Through a normative, doctrinal, and socio-legal review, this work seeks to problematize the differentiated impacts of pretrial detention on women, emphasizing the importance of framing legal analysis within a structural gender and human rights perspective.