Entre permanências e rupturas : uma análise jurídico-histórica da legislação infantojunevil no Brasil

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the ongoing adjustments and challenges of Brazilian juvenile legislation, based on a historical understanding and sociocultural representations that shaped the construction of the “minor” as a subject of state intervention. The research emerged from a scientific initiation project developed at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Federal University of Alagoas (ICS/UFAL) and focuses on a historical-legal approach to the issue, investigating how discourses and control practices over vulnerable children and adolescents have evolved from the colonial period to the present day, with emphasis on the period from 1970 to 2000. The analysis covers the normative trajectory of childhood and youth in Brazil and addresses the continuities and ruptures introduced by the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA), enacted in 1990. The study highlights the persistence of punitive and welfare-oriented practices justified by social representations of marginalization, such as the “juvenile offender,” disseminated primarily by the press, which at the time aligned with the political context of the Military Regime. It explores how the media, especially the crime sections, played a central role in constructing these narratives, supporting the need for strict social control. The methodology used is based on a bibliographic review conducted with the help of academic search engines like Google Scholar and SciELO, covering scientific literature that provides theoretical and critical support for an in-depth analysis of the research object. This methodological approach aims to systematize and integrate existing perceptions and debates in the specialized literature in order to demonstrate the relationship between media representations, legal construction, and the effectiveness of child and youth protection policies.