“Not to be a bandit”: adolescents in conflict with the law and work

Abstract

This is about a qualitative research in which we seek to know how the working experience of the adolescent who is under a socioeducative measure influences his family relations and the meaning the experience may have both for the youngsters as well as their family. The three researched adolescents were under the socioeducative measure (Assisted Freedom) and working. We utilized the participant observation, a semi-structured interview with the adolescents and a family interview. The results point out to a redefinition of the family relations of these adolescents as from their working experience, considering that all of them referred to a significant change in the relations established with the family after they started to work, specially concerning the family's trust on them. Work does not present an organizational or social sense and does not take these adolescents to a condition of autonomy but there exists a clear individual sense for the activity in which they are engaged: the redefinition of their social and family insertion, besides assigning another placement vis-a-vis their inclusion in the judicial system.