“A prática quem faz é a gente”: a norma e a discricionariedade no trabalho do socioeducador de segurança

Abstract

The aim of this study was to find out more about the work carried out by socio educational workers responsible for the safety of adolescents deprived of their liberty in the Socio-Educational Care Community located in the city of Salvador, Bahia. Without disregarding the historical path of public policy aimed at adolescents in conflict with the law in Brazil, the study focuses on the work of the security agent within the doctrine of integral protection, a paradigm that developed with the approval of national and international legal frameworks at the end of the 20th century. Based on the analysis of official documents and semi-structured interviews with agents, it was possible to identify the duties formally described and how agents convert these prescriptions into practices in the challenge of reconciling the educational and security dimensions inscribed in their role, given the contingencies of working in the socio-educational unit. This process is largely marked by contradictions, which can be seen both in the bureaucratic guidelines, despite the rational ideal of modern institutions, and in the practice of the agent described here as a street-level bureaucrat. In this investigation, similarities and differences were detected in the way the agents act and the resources they mobilize with adolescents and colleagues. The heightened tensions present in socio-educational care also reveal the discretion exercised by agents and other professional groups in constant disputes over the legitimate exercise of authority over the adolescent in detention. Finally, the restrictions imposed on the agents as a result of their work were noted, especially in terms of leisure and mobility, as well as the scant recognition they receive for their work.