Author and victim: social vulnerability of young people who committed infraction acts in Belo Horizonte

Abstract

The rapid structuring of urban spaces and the lack of planning for the provision of basic services goods come to add to the precariousness, creating favorable environments to the structuring of criminal activities. In Belo Horizonte, the Integrated Center for Care of Juvenile Offenders – CIA-BH recorded the entry of 9,864 young offenders in 2010. The support and assistance offered in the territory are fundamental to understand the kind of access available to those who reside therein. The Urban Life Quality Index (IQVU) analyzes this question. The objective of the study was to identify the degree of coverage of urban goods and services from regions in Belo Horizonte where adolescents who were admitted to the CIA-BH reside and, subsequently, correlate it to the socioeconomic profile of these youths. This is a descriptive study based on secondary data derived from IQVU for 1994-2006, added to the official data on the socioeconomic profile of adolescents who committed infraction acts in Belo Horizonte from January to December 2010. The results allow us to conclude that the majority of the studied public is inserted in locations with low access to basic consumables and is in a condition of social vulnerability. The lack of social apparatuses may not explain or have a direct correlation to juvenile delinquency, but it increases the opportunities for involvement in a life of crime.