The Boy That Pixou

Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

Once I asked colleague at my internship if all this stuff with juvenile justice was at all polemical in Brazil. If there were folks who weren't so into the fact that a crime committed by an adolescent under age 18 was not actually a "crime" but an "infractional act."

And she said yes.

She then proceeded to relate an incident to me that occurred in Porto Alegre last year that happened to be incredibly controversial. Listening initially to the story I kept wondering where the controversial part would come in.

Seems that a kid put graffiti on a wall at the school he attended. Pixou (as in the title) is the past tense of pixar: "to graffiti" more literally "to spray."

He was caught. By the vice-principal of the school who also happened to be his teacher.

As punishment, she made him re-paint the wall. Someone filmed this with their cell phone and posted it. A scandal erupted. Some were on the side of the educator. Some on the side of the law, which she went against when she administered a punishment instead of turning it over to the courts.

So, I'm thinking, "Huh? This a big deal?....Why?"

I kept imagining this happening in the United States. To me it would make sense (and be preferable) that a school deal with an incident like this on their own without calling the police. Jeez, there are just sooo many incidents that could be dealt with by the school without involving a kid in the juvenile justice system who doesn't necessarily need to be there.

When I expressed that reaction, I was told by my colleague that problem was:

The teacher went against the Statute of Children and Adolescents by bypassing the law and dealing with this kid's infractional act on her own terms. Had he gone through the system he would have likely been given six months of community service to perform. In any case, the point is, that this is the law and you've got to follow it.

Still, I wasn't entirely convinced.

Later, my supervisor said that the bigger problem was that the teacher was actually further aggravating the situation by publicly humiliating the 14-year-old boy. She was making him clean the wall in front of other students and was calling him a "fool" and things like that. The other kids were laughing. Apparently the boy was embarrassed and didn't want to go to school after that.

And, in the statute, Chapter II, Article 18, children and adolescents indeed have the right not to be humiliated:

É dever de todos velar pela dignidade da criança e do adolescente, pondo-os a salvo de qualquer tratamento desumano, violento, aterrorizante, vexatório ou constrangedor.

It is the duty of everyone for the dignity of the child and of the adolescent, putting them in the safety from any inhuman, violent, terrifying, shaming/upsetting, restricting/embarrassing treatment.

After a little searching I found an article (actually the teacher responding to the scandal) that has the video posted (you have to scroll down aways to get to the video).

To me, it's an awkward situation. The kid does seem quietly embarrassed, pulling his baseball cap down over his eyes. The teacher does seem upset by the mistreatment of the school represented in the kid's actions. And justifiably so - she felt that this kid wasn't respecting limits and wasn't suffering any repercussions for his actions. I wonder if perhaps this was the straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back for her? That maybe this one act on the kid's part was one too many for her?

Still, he would have had some consequences in the court system. And really it does seem that this kid, under law, should not have been subjected to embarrassment. Though, as a side note, I still find it curious this whole thing about 'embarrassment' - I would like to find out what incident(s) caused this to be part of the Statute.

I don't think these responses really leave a person that satisfied as regards this incident. Not me, anyhow. But that's because the debate is much bigger than a response to a kid doing something wrong. It's about how why kids are committing these acts in the first place and what's failing them before that? Unfortunately those questions -- and possible answers -- are huge, multifaceted and complex. Sometimes it feels easier, and less defeating, to stay in the details of one tiny incident, even if it doesn't really solve anything.

Anyone have any opinions or initial gut reactions to this that they'd like to share?

Weren't you supposed to be doing an internship in Brazil?

Why, yes. With youth in trouble with the law.

So, it is a good point that perhaps I should start writing about it.

PART I.

First though, we have to travel back to 1990, when the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente [Statute of the Child and Adolescent] came into existence in Brazil, which essentially gave specific rights to children and adolescents, based on their "condition as persons in development," including their absolute right to "life, health, nourishment/food, education, sports, leisure, professionalization, culture, dignity, respect, liberty and living with family and community." This Statue is very important and a big deal. So much so that often when I have told Brazilians about my internship, their first question is, "Have you read the Statute?" Indeed, I was gifted a copy of the statute not long after my arrival, and my reading of it became the beginning of my internship.

The Statute also created the structure for a juvenile justice system that would be rehabilitative in nature and not punish adolescents in trouble with the law in the same manner as adults. Unlike in the United States where children accused of heinous crimes can be transferred to the adult system, tried as adults and made subject to the death penalty, this can't occur in Brazil. (Brazil also does not have the death penalty.) Of course, what's written in statute is not always what occurs in reality, and there are opponents of this system, but I'm not going to get into that in this particular post.

Suffice it to say that it is always a challenge, in any country, to live up to its ideals. Implementing and maintaining a system of juvenile justice that aims to rehabilitate children and improve their lives is a huge undertaking. However, the system here appears to recognize that there are many structural issues (poverty and domestic violence to name a couple) that are integral parts of why children and adolescents may become involved in illicit activities in the first place.

Essentially when a kid gets caught committing a crime they will be entered into the juvenile justice system. Depending on the severity of the act (and of course, whether or not they actually committed it), they will often be given medidas socioeducativas (socio-educational measures) usually consisting of community service, sometimes combined with a form of probation (as I understand it). This service will usually performed over a period of six months usually consisting of four hours a week. However, there is an entire system, run by social workers, set up to help these youth with this as well as other needs they may have. Additionally, depending on their needs these kids may also get drug treatment or psychological evaluations, etc. So, kids aren't just told to go volunteer at any random place. They are assigned to a location near where they live, with social workers, and from there, they will complete their time. I am definitely simplifying this, but I just want to get the gyst of it across.

And it is with this social service system that I will be interning here in Porto Alegre. It operates underneath a larger social service umbrella agency and has eight offices located throughout the city (it's a big city). A week ago Friday,  I went to the central office for a meeting with two of the coordinators. I was thrilled that I could walk there (it took about 25 minutes), thrilled that I managed to both find the place without getting lost and relieved to arrive on time, albeit a little out of breath. This is a picture (below) of the river dividing the road where the central office is located. 

And so, despite the fact that the coordinators had a slightly different understanding of my internship (they thought I was there to do research and that I would be there much longer than four months), they were incredibly gracious, welcoming and open to changing their game plan to meet my learning needs. Master's level Social Work students in Brazil all do research. However, for those of us studying Social Work in the United States, the emphasis is on gaining experience in the field. It was decided that I would spend the following week in the central office gaining a bigger picture perspective of the work that they do and from there I would be assigned to one of their other locations to begin working directly with youth in trouble with the law.