LIFE TRAJECTORY AND INVOLVEMENT IN SOCIAL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM FACTIONS IN RN
faction, materialism, socioeducation, adolescence.
The constitution of the so-called criminal factions in Brazil should be analyzed under the optics of the
mass incarceration resulting from the neoliberal economic policy of the beginning of 1990 decade. In
this conjuncture, the penal system selectivity, the criminalization of black and poor youth, as well as
the war against drugs policy, are issues to take into account, which cross the problem of factions
formation as a product of the Brazilian penitentiary system. In the specific case of Rio Grande do
Norte (RN), these faction, which first were organize in the penitentiary system, also entered the socio
educative system, directly influencing the management of the units and recruitment of the internteenagers. About this reality, concerning the teenagers, the references to the groups are all over the
unit, since the preliminary self-identification with the factions, culminating in the separation of the
accommodations, the symbolic marks expressed as drawings on the dormitory walls and clothes, until
the music heard and sung that refer to the group and its leaders. Some teenagers mark their own body
with the factions’ symbols, something similar to self-mutilation with precarious artifacts as a tattoo,
which leave the skin raw. The rules of some factions prevent the early admission of teenagers,
however, it can be observed in the units of deprivation of freedom of the socio educative system a
strong felling of belonging and desire to join these groups. Thus, we question how the felling of
belonging is built and how the life trajectory of these teenagers coincide with joining the factions. In
this direction, once belonging the group, we question which factors contribute to the permanence of the
teenagers in the factions. From this, we intend with this research deepen the knowledge about the life
trajectory of the teenagers who wish to belong to a faction or who are already members, so know the
multiple factors contributing to the entering and permanence of them in these groups. Thus, the general
objective of this work is to analyze the life trajectories of the teenagers from the socio educative
system of RN, in order to understand the factors contributing to the entering and permanence of them
in the factions. As specific objectives, this work aims: (a) to analyze if/how the criminalization process
in the life trajectories of the teenagers contribute to their recruitment by the factions; (b) understand the
specificities of the teenagers recruitment by the factions before and after they enter the socio educative
system; (c) understand how the teenagers feeling of belonging to the factions is built and manifests; (d)
describe how are the institutional relations in the face of the recruitment of the young by the factions.
Male teenagers in probation regime from the Centro Educacional Pitimbu – CEDUC Pitimbu –
Parnamirim/RN will take part in this research. The data collection will be divided in two moments: 1.
First, it will be performed Focal Groups, with six to ten participants per group, aiming to identify
general questions about the factions, type of involvement with these groups and link building of the
researcher with the teenagers; 2. After this, it will be performed In-Depth Interviews passing through
various themes crossing the general objective of the research, which help reach a better understanding
of their life trajectories and the criminalization processes and are pertaining to the young. The
teenagers’ narratives will be fully recorded and transcribed, analyzed in a critical perspective, in the
light of the historical materialism, which understands the phenomena in its historicity and social
context of production. Lastly, it is expected as results of the work: a better understanding of the issue
about the life trajectory of the teenagers and their joining and permanence in the factions; provide data
to the socio educative units professionals that help them to deal with this phenomenon in the units and,
foster activities and dialogic spaces in the socio educative units which allow the teenagers autonomy
and free expression.