Social work and juvenile justice: contradictions and disputes present in the current context

Abstract

This article addresses the human rights problems of young adolescents “in conflict with the law” in relation to the reforms proposed for their treatment in a context of neoconservatism. Thinking about the struggles for human rights and locating Social Work strategies in socio-legal institutional spaces enables professional debate and bases the political actions deployed to defend the rights, in particular, of young people-adolescents. In this framework, the media installation of the problem and the appearance of the legal reform as the only way are a unilateral approach and skew the understanding of the field of juvenile justice. We maintain that there is a seduction in juvenile justice for procedural rights, but not for the comprehensiveness of human rights, particularly of young people-adolescents. However, there have been a series of attempts to reform this state of affairs, social workers have participated generating a rich experience.

Keywords

• justicia juvenil
• trabajo social
• derechos individuales/colectivos
• intervención como “ofrecimiento de posibilidades”