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:
Juvenile justice; Social work; Rights; Intervention