The control of criminal behavior by the school: A comparative study among non-adjudicated and adjudicated adolescents in the Brazilian context

Author(s)

Jorge Luiz da Silva

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Ribeirão Preto.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC)
• Defense date: 2013-10-08

Examining board members

Marina Rezende Bazon; Patricia Constantino; Edna Maria Marturano

• Advisor: Marina Rezende Bazon

Abstract

The infractions committed by teenagers have caused interest and concern.Most studies on the subject focus only on issues related to the family. Thus, other institutions of socialization of adolescents, such as school and peers, are not much investigated. In that sense, this work is interested to study the aspects related to school in the national context, since international recent research has shown that juvenile delinquency is strongly associated with maladjustment to the demands and expectations of the school environment, being this relation stronger than the relation with family problems. This research objectives were: 1) identify which variables are associated to the criminal teenagers behavior, and 2) verify in which way the associated variables contribute for the criminal behavior emersion/maintenance, under de perspective of Personal and Social Control Behavior Theory by Marc LeBlanc. The School Scale of MASPAQ Inventory (Measuring Adolescent Social and Personal Adaptation) and a questionnaire of socioeconomic characterization were used of the data collection. 60 adolescents participated in this research and they were divided in two groups, that were formed, respectively, by 30 adjudicated adolescents (GI) and 30 non-adjudicated adolescents (GNI). These groups were also subdivided in other two groups, each one was formed by 15 participants: adjudicated adolescents who were evaded from school (GI-Evaded); adjudicated adolescents students (GI-Students); non-adjudicated evaded adolescents (GNI-Evaded); and non-adjudicated adolescents students (GNI-Students). For Le Blanc, the School Control is based on three complementary mechanisms: academic performance, school bonding and constraints. Each of these conditions is analyzed in its various aspects by MASPAQ, which enables to evaluate the student\'s level of adaptation and how the control of conduct is made by the school. In short, the results enabled as far as a general comprehension about the system that adjust the adolescents behavior in school, and a specific comprehension, regarding each aspect evaluated in different dimensions claimed in the Theory frame. The scholar experiences show themselves clearly distinct among the groups and it was possible to identify the weaknesses or strong points of each one of them. The nearly totality of the statistically significant differences fell on the comparisons between the GI-Evaded and GI-Students groups, as well as those between GI-Evaded and GNI-Students groups, denoting that the evaded infriging teenagers (GI-Evaded) showed most problems in comparison on others groups; while non-adjudicated adolescents students (GNI-Students) showed the best results, in order to show that a more positive educational experience contributes to the good school and no binding of conduct contrary to the law. Moreover, the current investigation threw clues for the development of intervention towards scholar factors, insofar as the evidences pointed how elemental the educational experience is, in the sense of working as a risk or as a criminal behavior protection in adolescence. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/04634-9 - The regulation of criminal conduct by the school: a comparative study among non-adjudicated and adjudicated adolescents in the Brazilian context
• Grantee: Jorge Luiz da Silva
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master