For years, the social image of the juvenile offender was associated with violence, rebellion, and defiance of authority. However, those of us who work closely with them... Juvenile Detention Centers (CIMI) We know that this representation is increasingly far removed from current reality.
Today, young people serving court-ordered sentences are, for the most part, not dangerous minors, but teenagers. marked by vulnerability, trauma, and lack of protectionTheir delinquent behavior is often the visible symptom of an invisible history: abandonment, early substance use, neglected mental health, and emotional deprivation that has persisted since childhood.
From violent profile to vulnerable profile
Looking back, the first years of implementation of the Organic Law 5/2000, regulating the criminal liability of minors (LORPM)They reflected a different trend: property crimes, robberies with violence, assaults, or membership in troubled groups. They were impulsive teenagers, often from dysfunctional family backgrounds, but without major psychological problems.
Twenty-five years later, the landscape has changed significantly. The technical teams at the CIMI—educators, psychologists, social workers, and lawyers—agree on detecting a notable increase in minors with mental health disorders, early addictions, traumatic experiences, and a prior history of school failure or institutionalizationIn many cases, incarceration is not so much a response to actual danger as to the lack of effective alternatives outside the judicial system.
A recent study of Ombudsman (2024) It specifically highlights this trend: over 60% of the minors in care have some type of clinical diagnosis or problematic substance use, and almost 40% have previously been through the child protection system. These are, therefore, young people. more in need of care than punishmentbut they end up being referred to judicial contexts due to a lack of specific therapeutic or educational resources.
The role of silence
The group's silence is as harmful as the bully's actions.
The fear of becoming the next victim, indifference, or the false belief that "kids will be kids" normalize bullying. But behind every bullied child or teenager, there is a chain of adults and peers who looked the other way.
Education and social intervention professionals know that Breaking the silence is the first educational actNaming bullying, talking about it, and pointing it out respectfully and without judgment is the starting point for transforming it. However, in many schools it is still difficult to recognize, especially when there is no physical violence or when the victim does not fit the expected profile.
The LORPM and its educational spirit
It is worth remembering that the LORPM 5/2000 It was not conceived as a punitive law, but as a norm educational and restorative, inspired by the principles of proportionality, flexibility and opportunity.
Article 7 of the Law defines the applicable measures, among which confinement must always be the last resort, reserved for cases of particular severity or repeated offenses. Its purpose is not to punish, but to re-educate and reintegrate the minor into societyas highlighted in Article 1: “the measure must have a primarily educational content.”
However, the daily reality of the centers shows that this intention faces a much more complex context. The educational teams work with minors who, in addition to serving a sentence, need psychological intervention, emotional support, and intensive therapeutic guidance. Consequently, the CIMIs have evolved towards mixed intervention modelswhere the educational and the clinical are constantly intertwined.
Mental health as a new focus of intervention
Professionals agree that one of the major challenges today is mental health care.
The presence of behavioral disorders, ADHD, depression, self-harm, or substance abuse has become the norm, not the exception. In many cases, admissions are due to impulsive or explosive episodes rather than criminal planning. The juvenile justice system thus becomes the place where adolescents who They did not find adequate mental health care or protection..
Faced with this situation, several CIMIs in Andalusia and other regions are incorporating therapeutic-educational programswhere clinical teams collaborate closely with educators. These experiences, though still uneven, demonstrate that comprehensive intervention—combining emotional support, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and social skills education—leads to better outcomes in social reintegration and lower recidivism rates.
Educating at the border of harm
Working with juvenile offenders requires understanding that the offense is only part of the story. Many of these teenagers have grown up in environments where boundaries were learned through pain or neglect. That's why, Educational intervention must go beyond the legal normopening up space for repair, understanding of the damage and the reconstruction of the social bond.
The challenge for professionals is twofold: to maintain the center's structuring function—the rules, the schedules, the daily life—while simultaneously offering a restorative emotional experience. In practice, this means listening to what lies behind the behavior, intervening without labeling, and giving the child the opportunity to see themselves from a different perspective.
Re-education, in this context, is not achieved solely through formal programs, but also through... constant presence of the educator, their capacity for containment and the team's cohesion. Every routine, every conversation, every conflict becomes a therapeutic space.
Towards a new model: restorative and therapeutic juvenile justice
The evolving profile of juvenile offenders demands a complete overhaul of the system. Simply adapting programs is not enough; a fundamental change is needed. rethinking the juvenile justice model towards a truly restorative and therapeutic approach.
This involves strengthening coordination between justice, mental health, social services and education; providing specialized training to CIMI staff; and, above all, ensuring that judicial measures maintain their educational, not welfare or custody, purpose.
The future of intervention with minors depends on recognizing what professional practice has already demonstrated: Vulnerability does not exempt one from responsibility, but neither can it be resolved with punishment.Re-education means accompanying, understanding, and offering alternatives. Ultimately, it means giving back the opportunity that life denied them too soon.
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