Abstract

ORTIZ-VILLAREJO, Jorge Alberto. Prevalence of Emotions and Populism in the Colombian Congress: The Case of Life Imprisonment. Novum Jus [online]. 2023, vol.17, n.1, pp.331-356.  Epub June 24, 2023. ISSN 1692-6013.  https://doi.org/10.14718/novumjus.2023.17.1.14.

In response to the problem of physical and sexual violence against children in Colombia, the Congress of the Republic approved in 2020 the life imprisonment for those who committed these types of crimes, as its majorities considered it to be the correct solution to this social phenomenon. However, several sectors have doubted this measure, calling it populist and unnecessary. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that in this case the primacy of emotion-or intuition-and not of reason was evidenced. To this end, an analysis of the arguments presented in the different debates is made, based on theories of argumentation and cognitive psychology, describing punitive populism. The conclusion is that arguments based on intuition and emotion prevailed over science or reason. This is compatible with populism, which can be combated, I argue, through a different perspective that includes scientific culture, recognition of the other, and emotional education.

Keywords : argumentation; life imprisonment; democracy; emotions; punitive populism; cognitive psychology.

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