Adolescents and illegal acts in Ribeirão Preto (SP): 1986-1996 / O Jovem em Conflito com a Lei na Cidade de Ribeirão Preto (SP): 1986 - 1996

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

1999

RESUMO

Adolescent criminal acts are often mentioned in the discussions about the increase of urban violence observed during the last decades. The promulgation of the "Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente" (ECA - Federal Act 8069/90), which induced changes in the institutions and procedures relative to the lawbreaker adolescent and which introduced a system of processual rights, has instigated objections in some social sectors opposed to the rights of those adolescents. The ECA is often referred to in a derogatory way, as an incitation to youth crimes due to the impunity that it is supposed to preserve. The lack of well based data has hindered the development of an informed public opinion. Aiming to contribute for this debate, the present work investigates the adolescent who perpetrate illegal acts departing from his involvement with the criminal Justice. Data from a sample composed by 2377 process of adolescents, which passed through the Child and Adolescent Court ("Juizado da Infância e da Juventude") of Ribeirão Preto (SP/Brazil), in the period of 1986 to 1996, were analyzed. The main results point to quantitative and qualitative changes in the studied period. There was an expansion in the number of illegal acts, as well as an augmentation in its severity. The difference between the increases observed before and after the ECA does not authorize an association between this law and the expansion in the number of illegal acts. A combination of three factors might have contributed for the growing severity of those illegal acts: transformations observed in the narcotic trade, the intensification of interpersonal conflicts and the supply of weapons to the youth. Among the adolescents, prevail those of 15 to 17 years of age, male, white, who live in the outskirts of the town and who were born in Ribeirão Preto. The analysis of the socio-educative acts applied to those adolescents points to the urgent need of a repositioning of the Child and Adolescent Court ("Justiça da Infância e Juventude") in order to increase the effectiveness of those acts. The denial of the adolescents rights and the obstacles raised against the progress in this area, must be understood as due to a culture of penalizing the youth and to a resistance against a conception of mankind based on the recognition of its human rights.

ASSUNTO(S)

criminalidade violence adolescência delinquency violência adolescents rights eca federal act adolescente infrator adolescence estatuto da criança e do adolescente

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

Documentos Relacionados