Os 30 anos do Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente e os horizontes possíveis a partir da Justiça Restaurativa: influxos abolicionistas em tempos de expansão punitiva a partir da extensão acadêmica

What this is about

The article reflects on youth justice in Brazil on the thirtieth anniversary of the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (Law 8069/1990). The author reconstructs how, from the colonial period to the present, a criminal policy took shape that treated poor children and adolescents as a social problem, and shows the distance between the Statute's principles and practice, with data on the increase in confinement and semi-liberty measures. She then presents restorative justice as a possibility within youth justice, even in a context of punitive expansion, from a critical perspective close to abolitionism. The empirical part reports on the outreach project «Além da Culpa: Justiça Restaurativa para adolescentes» of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, developed together with the Public Defender's Office. It is addressed to those who work in the youth justice system and to universities interested in linking outreach and restorative practices.

Annotated table of contents

• 1. Introdução (Introduction). Reviews the official events marking the thirtieth anniversary of the Statute in 2020 and points to the lack of concrete goals in authorities' speeches. Presents the path of the article and its theoretical and empirical approach.
• 2. Infância e juventude no Brasil: aspectos históricos e político-criminais (Childhood and youth in Brazil: historical and criminal-policy aspects). Describes the treatment of childhood from the colonial period, through the hygienist discourse, to the 1927 Minors' Code and the tutelary model. Shows how that model served to socially separate poor children and adolescents and how it entered into crisis until the 1988 Constitution.
• 3. O Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente: aspectos conceituais, evolução no tempo e reflexos práticos (The Statute of the Child and Adolescent: conceptual aspects, evolution over time, and practical effects). Explains the doctrine of comprehensive protection, socio-educational measures, and remission (waiver of proceedings). With SINASE data it shows the sustained increase in confinement and semi-liberty, racial selectivity, and educational deficits in the units.
• 4. Breves considerações sobre a Justiça Restaurativa e sua inserção no âmbito do sistema de Justiça Juvenil pátrio (Brief considerations on restorative justice and its place within the Brazilian youth justice system). Situates restorative justice in the criminological critiques of the 1970s and in the United Nations norms on youth justice. Reviews its concepts, methods, and possible procedural effects, and the first Brazilian experiences in Porto Alegre, São Caetano do Sul, and Brasília.
• 5. Projeto de extensão acadêmica Além da Culpa: Justiça Restaurativa para adolescentes: características, percursos, desafios e horizontes (Academic outreach project Além da Culpa: Restorative Justice for adolescents: characteristics, paths, challenges, and horizons). Presents the legal framework that enables restorative practices, especially the SINASE Law and CNJ Resolution 225/2016. Includes the profile of the Juiz de Fora socio-educational network (5.1) and the start of activities and the project's methodologies, with its pre-circles, circles, post-circles, and family reintegration circles (5.2).
• Considerações Finais (Final considerations). Argues that the Statute brought advances but failed to make effective the rights it recognizes, in the face of persistent punitivism. Proposes restorative justice as a non-retributive form of accountability and universities as allies in its expansion.
• Referências Bibliográficas (Bibliographic references). Gathers the bibliography, rules, and official surveys cited.

Key ideas

• Since the colonial period, poor childhood and adolescence were constructed by agents of power as a social problem to be controlled.
• The tutelary model of the Minors' Code legitimized, under a protective discourse, the institutional segregation of children and adolescents from poor families.
• The Statute establishes comprehensive protection and deprivation of liberty as a last resort, but judicial practice retains tutelary features and increases confinement and semi-liberty measures.
• The data cited indicate that adolescents and young people are more often victims than perpetrators of violent crimes, contrary to the public perception that drives lowering the age of criminal responsibility.
• Restorative justice has no closed concept and is understood here as a movement that opposes punitive social control and is based on human dignity.
• The SINASE Law and CNJ Resolution 225/2016 give normative support to restorative practices, but institutional support and budget are needed to sustain them.
• In Juiz de Fora, in-person contact in the pre-circles proved key, while the location of the central office in the courthouse and transportation difficulties emerge as obstacles.
• There is a risk that restorative justice will be captured by traditional criminal logic or used to expand punitive power in cases where remission was appropriate.

Practical uses

• How can a university, together with the public defender's office, organize a project of restorative practices with adolescents?
• What stages should be foreseen in a restorative procedure during the investigation of an infraction?
• How can restorative circles be used at the stage of carrying out a socio-educational measure to support return home?
• What practical obstacles, such as transportation or physical space, can affect the participation of adolescents and families?
• What precautions should be taken so that restorative practices do not extend criminal control over adolescents?

Key terms

youth justice, restorative justice, Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente, comprehensive protection, tutelary model, socio-educational measures, remission, SINASE, restorative circles, pre-circles, family reintegration circles, university outreach, penal abolitionism, punitive expansion, penal selectivity