Educational intervention in juvenile justice centers, an approach to its speeches and practices

Abstract

His article presents a study on the educational model of Juvenile Justice Centers in Spain, carried out between the years 2017 and 2018, based on the previous results obtained in the framework of a broader previous investigation on the professionalization of social educators. The work focuses on the analysis of conceptual categories and educational measures carried out in youth detention centers. The main methodological elements were, on the one hand, the analysis of the official production documents (protocols and intervention manuals) and, on the other, ethnographic techniques such as direct observation in the centers and in-depth interviews with the educators. The results obtained show that the conceptualization of the “minor offender” category is accompanied by a series of unfavorable attributes -registered in the scientific, legal, political and media fields- that build a certain stereotyped image of young people. These perception schemes guide an intervention model that places the accent on the supposed deficiencies of the subject. The conclusions referred that said “brands” work, both in programs and in practice, as “labels” that hinder the possibility of guiding an educational action open to new social paths for these young people.