Adolescentes em conflito com a lei: contexto teórico e processos de estigmatização

Abstract

Adolescents who commit offenses come from a history of gross legislative and social neglect. With the enactment of the Statute of Children and Adolescents, there were legal changes in the socio-educational assistance aimed at young people who committed infractions, however, it is clear that the practice remains supported by punitive ideals and the adjustment of conduct, reproducing the idea of dangerousness of young people, strengthening the stigmas that surround them and contributing to hinder the processes of social inclusion. Currently, this is a field of study in constant production. The research, as producer of knowledge, has great responsibility for it's preparation and implementation, as they can both reproduce stigmas and discrimination, as well as knowledge that promotes the reduction of stereotypes that surround them. Thus, questions arise about the levels of stigma in the Brazilian population and ways to investigate it, since it is in this society that adolescents are inserted, and the role of scientific productions in promoting knowledge and advances in the area. Study 1 was a systematic literature review, developed to answer the question “What research has been carried out on adolescents in conflict with the law in the national scientific literature in the last 5 years?”, in order to know the recent literature, outlining themes , advances and gaps in this area. A total of 121 national articles were retrieved, indexed in the SciELO, Portal Regional da BVS, Psycinfo and Web Of Science databases, with an assessment of the quality of the articles carried out using the PRISMA strategy. Eleven thematic categories were identified for data extraction, integration and analysis of the material. It was concluded that the articles presented evident advances in knowledge about the care provided to adolescents in the legal and socio-educational system, the impacts on their perception of themselves and the construction of future projects. Study 2 was an empirical research, carried out through an online survey. The sample consisted of 440 Brazilian adults, aged between 18 and 74 years, who responded to the Escala de Estigma sobre Adolescentes que Cometeram Infrações (EE-ACI), with 38 questions, on a four-point Likert scale. Participants had a mean score of 73.86 and standard deviation of 16.477, and 67.5% of the sample were classified as having an average level of stigma. Individual factors such as sex and age group were statistically significant for the scale score and education was a protective factor for low stigma. It was concluded that the stigmatization of adolescents who commit crimes is present in the Brazilian context, associated with individual judgment, beliefs about individual characteristics of adolescents and fear of being victims of infractions.