Young offenders serving a semi open sentence at a socio educational facility (FUNASE) in Recife-PE: their experiences and expectations

Abstract

This is a descriptive exploratory study with a qualitative approach that aimed to investigate the experience of young offenders who serve a rehabilitation sentence in a semi open system. This research considers the socio-economic, cultural and emotional processes that contribute to the adolescent engaging into crime, intend to identify as well their expectations for the future. We interviewed 30 male youths from July to September 2009. Their statements were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using the Collective Subject Discourse. Those accounts were divided into eight main ideas: the adolescent's experience at school, their intra-familial relationships, the family members'socioeconomic status, their homeless experience, drug use, the families of adolescents who have committed crimes, criminal experience of adolescents, the desire for change and expectations about the future. The study revealed that a disjointed family, the precarious living conditions, the exposure to damaging influences on the streets, a deficient school system, the nonexistence of a positive adult role model and the youngsters' lack of a childhood experience contributes to their increased involvement young in criminal activities. The young offenders experience in crime generates social discrimination and prejudice and contributes to the difficulty in establishing a support network favorable to the social inclusion of these individuals.