RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND SOCIO-EDUCATION IN AN OPEN ENVIRONMENT Luciana Gomes de Lima Jacques Beatriz Gershenson
Introduction
T
he objective of the doctoral research was to examine to what extent the incorporation of restorative practices in socio-education in an open environment have become an alternative to the punitiveness that has historically characterised the way that adolescents in conflict with the law are treated in Brazil. This required: analysing the relationships between the theoretical assumptions of Restorative Justice and socio-educational measures in relation to punitiveness; verifying, through the professionals implementing restorative socio-education practices in an open environment, how these practices are inserted in municipal programmes; identifying the challenges encountered by these professionals in the insertion and enforcement of restorative practices in this care; knowing the perceptions of these professionals about punishment in socio-education; and understanding the perceptions of these professionals about relationships between restorative practices, socio-education and punitiveness. The research enabled grasping the particularities of the relationship between restorative practices and socio-education developed at the Specialised Social Support Reference Centres (CREAS), as part of the care ministered to adolescents serving socio-educa-
