Journal of Forensic Psychology

Abstract

The Therapeutic Justice as Alternative to Reduce Criminal Majority in Brazil

 Victorino P

In Rio de Janeiro, each hour, a child or a teenager is arrested by practicing some kind of offense, with the 8.380 cases, in 2014, according to the most important newspapers in the country (41.53% for drugs trafficking). Increase, in Brazil, the search for a solution to the problem increases, unfortunately, the wrong way of reducing the criminal majority to 16 years old. This false solution is shared by many sectors of society, including the charge of these prisons sector (Security Bureau), which believes that if the teenager is able to vote at age of 16, would also be fully able to account for all their actions, including infractions. In the opposite direction, the implementation of social measures, preventive, educational and treatment is necessary, able to avoid the first crime, or its recurrence. It is in this context that the project "Therapeutic Justice," which articulates, cooperatively, law enforcement officers with resources from educational and therapeutic area. In the experience of many teenagers in conflict with the law, JT represents the real possibility of building another life narrative, in order to provide concrete way to prevent premature and permanent marginalization, such as that offered by the reduction of the criminal majority.