Jóvenes infractores de leyestudio de las trayectorias individuales y colectivas, oportunidades educativas y reinserción social en Chile

Abstract

Youth violence can only be understood by analysing the institutional and social instruments that determine the processes of social exclusion. In this context, we pretend to analyse the subjectivities and trajectories of young offenders who are interned in centres run by Chile's National Service for Minors. The goals that guided the research were: 1) to describe young offenders’ life trajectories (from a familiar, personal and group perspective), 2) to characterise the educational opportunities offered to young offenders, the use of re-education programmes and the resistance they develop to continue and complete their education cycle and 3) to analyse their expectations of social and educational reintegration. A mixed methodology was chosen with the use of qualitative techniques through interviews with young people, families, professional teams, and the documentary analysis of the regulations governing educational processes. Following a process of sequential triangulation, we used a questionnaire designed ad hoc to assess expectations regarding social and educational reintegration. The results show an early desertion of young people in a context of multidimensional structural poverty, the predominance of a deficit-focused educational system where stigmatisation and discrimination would hinder the possibilities of an effective change, increasing the chances of recidivism. The recommendations are oriented towards the effective development of evaluation and monitoring mechanisms in the external environment and the promotion of more inclusive spaces that place the interests and needs of young people at the centre from a rights-based and gendersensitive approach.