The purpose of this paper is to verify how educators applying social/educative measures, working with adolescents who have broken the law, evaluate the performance of the school in a community context of social/educative care regarding prevention and reduction of recidivism in breaking the law. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews, conducted within the institution and analyzed making use of the discourse of collective subject. The results, after interviews were analyzed, highlight four major themes: the similarities and differences between that specific school and the other public schools; the role of the school while enforcing the social/educative measure of confinement (SEMC) and its preventative actions; the recommendation of preventative actions; and the causes of recidivism. In the collective discourse of educators, one may note that school plays a key role in preventing and reducing recidivism of offenses. However, there is a lack of connections with the social work network outside the institution. Security issues are the major difference, identified by research participants, in relation to schools external to the institution. Family, socioeconomic and personal factors are, according to educators, risk factors for adolescents, which make it difficult to discontinue the legal offenses. The importance of adolescents being able to build their own life project and the inability to follow up with the ex-inmates are emphasized in the narrative of these professionals, which demonstrates the urgency of articulated public policies for a better service to young people when they leave the (Brazilian) social/educative system.
Social/educative measures; School; Recidivism; Educators applying measures
