The problem of the minor criminal responsibility: the verification of the socioeducative measures in the period from 2007 to 2012 in the Supreme Court

Abstract

The research discusses the difficulty of systematizing a Juvenile Criminal Law that considers a special sphere of criminal responsibility assigned to adolescents in conflict with the law and, at the same time, avoids deleterious effects on their personality in the implementation of Statute of Children and Adolescents. Initially, the historical approach to the juvenile offender is introduced. From this historical basis, we present the modern theories of juvenile delinquency, based on the "Doctrine of Integral Protection" (Doutrina da Proteção Integral): "Juvenile Criminal Law" (Direito Penal Juvenil) and "Law Offense" (Direito Infracional). Through doctrinal understanding and empirical verification of the criteria that have guided the consolidation of the social-educational measures in the Supreme Court, in the sample space from 2007 to 2012, will be discussed the juridical measures designated to juvenile delinquency. The purpose of this research is to criticize the tendency to worsen the measures assigned to adolescents in conflict with the law, as well as, the difficulties of effecting a theory of criminal responsibility based on youth education that preserves the teenager's free development.(AU)