Juvenile justice, punishment and socio-educational measures: a review of the Latin American debate

• Grant number: 25/13245-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: October 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Bruna Gisi Martins de Almeida
• Grantee: Lucas de Paula Fonseca
• Supervisor: Carmen Cecilia Montes Maldonado
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad de la República (UDELAR), Uruguay
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/17313-3 - Frameworks of mental health in socio-educational measures in a closed environment, BP.MS

Abstract

This Research Internship Abroad project (BEPE/FAPESP) primarily aims to achieve theoretical and bibliographic depth on themes such as punishment, adolescent institutionalization, and medicalization processes through a research visit to University of the Republic (UdelaR) in Montevideo, Uruguay. The objective is to develop a broader contextual understanding of the transformations shaping the phenomena analyzed in my master's research project in Brazil ("Frameworks of mental health in socio-educational measures in a closed environment" - FAPESP Process: 2023/17313-3). In my Brazilian research, I have examined how the framing of socio-educational measures in a closed environment shapes the emergence of mental health as a relevant factor in measure implementation, its modes of manifestation, and the resulting conflicts and negotiations. I have particularly emphasized how medicalization functions both as a component of punitive and socio-educational repertoires and as a strategy for managing the distressing experience of institutionalization.This research internship will enable me to situate these phenomena within the broader transformations affecting punishment, medicalization, and adolescent institutionalization while integrating my Brazil-based research into Latin American and global scholarly conversations on these topics, with the goal of developing and strengthening international research networks. During my research stay, I will conduct literature reviews on these themes, participate in seminars and discussions with UdelaR researchers, and join a research team studying mental health among adolescents who have exited the juvenile justice system.