From the youth to the young person: new horizons for a violence prevention policy

Abstract

Violence affects disproportionately young people in Brazil, especially young black people. 53.3% of homicides in the country in 2018 occurred among young people aged 15 to 29 years. The overrepresentation of this population continues over the years. Despite the numerous diagnoses that reveal this panorama, different public security policies have not been able to reverse this situation. This article analyzes the perspective of violence prevention in the several national public security plans since the 2000s and at ‘Juventude Viva’ plan, instituted by the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic in 2012, and argues that despite the actions directed at the youth, the deficit in the implementation and discontinuity of the plans prevents the reversal of the scenario in the short term. The article defends it is necessary to change the way in which diagnoses of violence are done, pointing to a novel individualized approach aimed at a more assertive and focused public policy implementation. The experience of the Violence Prevention Observatory in the city of Caruaru is presented as a model for this kind of diagnosis.