Toward Enhanced Confidentiality Standards: An Analysis of the Processing of Personal Data of Children and Adolescents in Peruvian Cassation Judgments; [Rumo a padrões reforçados de confidencialidade: análise do tratamento de dados pessoais de crianças e adolescentes em sentenças de cassação peruanas]

Ravelo-Franco G.; Anaya E.F.O.; Mejía J.A.C. · Revista Oficial del Poder Judicial (2026) · DOI: 10.35292/ropj.v18i25.1262

Resumen

This study examines the protection of the personal data of children and adolescents in cassation judgments issued by the Supreme Court of Justice of Peru and published in the Official Gazette El Peruano between January 2022 and December 2024. Ten judgments referring to one or more individuals by the initials of their names were selected. A qualitative methodological approach was adopted, involving documentary analysis and thematic coding. Six dimensions were examined: subject matter of the proceedings, precision of anonymization, use of given names, mention of parents, residential addresses, and other contextual data. The findings reveal that identity protection is inconsistent and often insufficient, with cases in which full names, addresses, or institutions associated with minors are disclosed. The theoretical framework integrates national and international normative principles concerning data protection and children’s rights, emphasizing the tension between judicial transparency and the protection of privacy. Since the publication of judgments is mandatory, even when they do not constitute judicial precedent, there is a need to strengthen anonymization standards. The study proposes five enhanced confidentiality standards for the publication of judgments involving children and adolescents: (i) complete de-identification of all directly or indirectly traceable information, including family, educational, or contextual data; (ii) uniform application of confidentiality measures across all types of judicial proceedings; (iii) maintenance of protection even after reaching adulthood when the events occurred during childhood or adolescence; (iv) implementation of dual institutional review, both judicial and editorial, prior to the official publication of the judgment; and (v) a requirement for enhanced reasoning, obliging explicit justification of the compatibility between judicial publicity and the protection of minors’ identities.

Instituciones: Universidad de San Martín de Porres; Universidad Continental