• Relevance of education

Relevance of education

What factors make young people in Brazil more or less likely to be put in prison, and what happens to them after incarceration? This report presents findings from a project that used surveys and interviews to investigate the experiences of over 300 young people aged 12 to 17 who had been incarcerated in juvenile detention centres in São Paulo. The report also describes the final stage of the project, in which young people created a video about their communities and lives to show their and other struggling youths’ experiences.

The study found that young people had typically faced difficult circumstances prior to their incarceration, and that these circumstances were worse in the year following their release: fewer young people were attending school, many were unemployed and underemployed, often in insecure employment, and many were exposed to violence, with 20% reporting that they believed that there was a death warrant out for them. A large proportion had been implicated in a new conflict with the law after release.

The study finds that protective factors in both rehabilitating young people and preventing incarceration is engagement in structures that will have a positive influence on their lives, particularly: formal education; meaningful employment; and structured recreational activities. The report identifies the need to:

• ensure that young people who are released from incarceration are able to undertake schooling at a level appropriate to their level of ability and interests, with adequate learning support
• increase the availability, intensity and relevance of job training opportunities both within detention facilities and following release
• provide young people with job opportunities such as apprenticeships, as well as support and follow-up once they have obtained a job
• increase availability of high-quality, supervised, very low cost or free, recreational activities in high-risk communities
• reduce the excessive use of physical force by police and others in a position of authority and increase the monitoring of authority figures
• consider aspects of a community policing model approach
• provide safe homes where youth can be released to if their home is too violent, or the youth are at risk of being killed

The authors emphasise, however, that the present fragmented system in Brazil is inadequate for this task. They therefore stress the critical need for a specific governmental agency to have clear responsibility and accountability for improved outcomes for these young people across all three areas of intervention, as well as a non-governmental agency monitoring mechanism.

The report concludes with reflections on lessons learned about the process of conducting such a research project and disseminating its findings.

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