Legislation on minors and conflicts in Cuba

Minors in conflict with criminal law. Its legal regulation in Decree Law 64 of 1982

Summary

When addressing the issue of juvenile offenders of the Criminal Law and its legal treatment, we intend to assess not only the relevant importance of protection in legal matters and all its perspectives, but also to highlight the importance of community action with all its institutions and especially the role of the family based on the application and effective compliance of all that is legally regulated in the field of protection of children and youth.

The phenomenon of the legal transgression of minors and juvenile delinquency has appeared in all social formations, manifesting itself in different ways in correspondence with the specific historical moment, reaching up to our days with updated characteristics in its manifestations.

Our political system has created a differentiated treatment, where it is recognized that the healthy development of children is fundamental for the current and future well-being of any society. Recently, the rights of children were recognized and the acceptance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been received, appreciating contributions to the United Nations Children's Fund, thus revitalizing its work.

The issue of childhood and youth in our country has been the object of special attention by the State, so legislators, fulfilling their role of prevention, have enshrined in our legislation the protection of this group of the population, starting from the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba and concretizing in the postulates of the Family Code, the Maternity Law of the worker, the Labor Code, the Childhood and Youth Code and the Penal Code. In a special way, Decree Law No. 64 published in December 1982 creates the system of care for minors with conduct disorders, with the fundamental objective of reorienting or re-educating said minors, based on the creation of a coherent and articulated system,It is fundamentally an educational task that corresponds to the Ministry of Education and the Interior according to the degree of disorder or dangerousness of the minor, excluding them from criminal legislation.

In our country, efforts are being intensified to eradicate or minimize the causes or conditions that may lead children or young people to deviant behavior that transgresses the law.

The issue on the treatment of minors and adolescents who transgress the law remains constant in its validity and contemporaneity, evident in the search carried out worldwide to provide treatment and try to solve the problems of minors in conflict with the law.

Anthropologists, sociologists, and human scholars in general, affirm that the family or family group is as old as humanity itself, and can be considered as the oldest of societies and the only one that arises spontaneously, becoming a created institution. and structured by culture in order to regulate and control individuals, their relationships, their behaviors and everything related to generational and social exchange.

In Cuba, since the first days of the revolutionary triumph, the State and the government dictated the first measures aimed at perfecting the legal and juridical base in accordance with the economic and social transformations of the country.

The non-criminal treatment of the transgressions of minors, created the legal body necessary for their treatment through Decree Law 64 of 1982. Likewise, Law 16 Code of Children and Youth includes in its articles 1 and 2 all what is related to children and minors in the construction of the new society. There are other legal provisions that establish the protection and rights of minors, such as the General Constitution of the Republic.

The Family Code, the Civil Code, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Decree Law 95 of 1996. In our Cuban society, it is based on the criterion that criminality is not conditioned by phenomena inherent to human nature and is analyzed the criminal phenomenon from a network of family, social, educational, cultural and legal indicators that can contribute to the suppression of antisocial behaviors that allow the reduction of crimes and above all to the suppression of the conditions that cause their manifestation. This approach and analysis of the phenomenon of juvenile delinquency has resulted in priority for the legal protection that must be provided to children and adolescents, considering them as subjects of rights and guarantees within the family framework and the socioeconomic and cultural context.

Scientific Problem:

How does the improvement of the preventive actions of the institutions of the environment where they act and develop contribute to the decrease in the cases of minors and adolescents who transgress the Law?

Hypothesis:

The improvement of preventive action in the family, socio-economic and cultural environment contributes effectively to the reduction of children and adolescents who transgress the Law.

General objective:

Analyze preventive actions that can minimize the actions of minors who violate the Law.

Specific objectives:

Analyze how the socio-economic, cultural and family framework affects the actions of minors who violate the Law Propose ways to promote the analysis of the factors that interact in the problematic framework of minors who violate the Law Emphasize corrective actions to minimize the emergence of minors with deviant behaviors that will in the future constitute active members of juvenile delinquency.

Theoretical Methods:

Historical-Logical. This method facilitates the development of the investigation because through it it was possible to analyze the phenomenon of the investigation of minors and young offenders of the law.

In this method, the existing information is analyzed from the bibliographic review. Analysis and synthesis play an important role in the process of knowledge, allowing to elaborate a concrete personal idea of the treatment of the analyzed phenomenon.

Empirical Methods:

Document Review

This technique allowed the work to be argued and extract the elements to specify the legal treatment of the subject analyzed.

Conceptual Theoretical Referents of Criminology and Juvenile Delinquency.

Contemporary criminology, from the 1930s onwards, is characterized by the tendency to overcome pathological theories of crime, that is, those that are based on the biological and psychological characteristics that differentiate "criminal" subjects from "normal" individuals. », And in the denial of free will through a rigid determinism.

These theories were typical of positivist criminology, which, inspired by the philosophy and psychology of naturalistic positivism, prevailed between the end of the last century and the beginning of the present.

In our Cuban society, we start from the criterion that crime is avoidable, we do not condition its existence to phenomena inherent to human nature itself. The criminal phenomenon within socialism is under a network of social, educational, cultural and legal indicators that contribute to the suppression of crime and antisocial behaviors.

The non-criminal criminological treatment of the transgressions of minors, created the necessary legal body, that is, DL64 / 82, which facilitates the construction of a socialist criminology. Law No. 16 of the Childhood and Youth Code includes in its Articles No. 1 and 2 everything related to children and minors in the construction of the new socialist society. There are other legal provisions that establish the protection and rights of children and minors such as the General Constitution of the Republic, the Family Code, the Civil Code and the Convention on the Rights of Children, among others.

Socialist criminology, due to its object and purpose, is the science that helps to clarify the criminogenic determinants that promote crime, favor compliance with the main lines against such activities, raising the task of confronting antisocial behaviors to a higher level.

Juvenile delinquency is found within the general context of social relations and is considered as a negative phenomenon subject to the same considerations from the theoretical point of view, as adult delinquency. In a general sense, delinquency in young people and adults constitutes the result of the inheritance of the capitalist system and, on the other hand, the objective difficulties that our process of building the new society faces. For this reason, the characteristics of the young man at this stage require a thorough examination as well as the study of the social conditions under which he exists and acts. Juvenile delinquency is not independent of delinquency, but it is a more specific plane that is influenced by contagion with certain forms of behavior, expressions that are around, etc.

Criminogenic characteristics that generate delinquency in young people

The opposition between social and individual interests, this softens in socialism with state policy, but there are still citizens who want to obtain greater advantages than the rest, more unfavorable circumstances can lead to the commission of a specific crime. In capitalism the system It is the generator of such behaviors. In socialism it is due to the gaps that the educational process of these young people present. The difficulties that may appear at the organizational level but the construction of the new society. Conditions that in the Cuban social environment facilitated such behaviors, Backward consciousness of some citizens The ideological diversionism that imperialism continually exercises to divert young people from the construction of socialism.

The importance of the family in the education and monitoring of discipline is fundamental in the early years of adolescence, the formative role of the family.

Harmful peculiarities of the criminal family:

Broken homes Inadequate functioning at home Domestic violence Homes with relatives or abnormal people Homes made up of people of low cultural level Existence of offenders punished as repeat offenders in the home Homes that are financially and materially insecure.

"Socialization" is the process of learning conformity to the norms, habits and customs of the group. It is the ability to conduct oneself in accordance with social expectations. Many factors contribute to the adolescent's difficulties in replacing childhood attitudes and social behavior with more adult forms. The most notable obstacles are:

Deficient foundations: Insufficient preparation and identification with poorly adapted people in the formative years provide deficient foundations on which it is not possible to build adult patterns of social behavior in adolescence.

Lack of guidance: Parents and teachers often believe that the adolescent will automatically become a better socialized individual. Young people who don't like to be commanded often reject adult advice.

Lack of models suitable for imitation: Many times the models projected by the mass media are inadequate because their behavior guidelines do not always conform to the approved group norms. Imitation of a popular peer usually means learning patterns of behavior that conform to youth standards, not adult ones.

Starting from the concept of prevention, which is a way of getting ahead. A good measure is the love and the examples that a child and / or adolescent receive in their family, a good scale of values and the help and action of various professionals. The important thing is to work together so that the work is richer. Nowadays the only solution according to the person is to "lock" the person in jail. But, from my point of view here, the adolescent not only learns new forms of crime, but when he goes out he is even more violent and aggressive.

Models of Administration of Juvenile Justice

The exposition, approach and analysis of the subject matter has led to the emergence in the theoretical framework of different theories and doctrines approached from different angles. The set of all the theoretical production that is legally elaborated on the treatment of minors recognizes two forms that They have reached greater strength and include a set of ideas and achievements that more strongly define the Doctrine of the Irregular Situation and the Doctrine of Integral Protection.

In the current that follows, the practice of irregular doctrine and the normative provisions for the protection of minors were as much or more repressive than those already existing for adults in many cases, including the non-observance of constitutional rights and guarantees, subjecting them to the Minors to variants of guardianship even if they have not incurred in conducts classified as crimes in the law but if it is considered that they could commit it, so that in many cases the constitutional precepts are not fulfilled.

For its part, the doctrine of comprehensive protection arises and is built considering children as objects and subjects of rights, encompassing global principles as well as strategies and political measures designed to protect children in general and individually, as well as their rights and guarantees..In this doctrine, the intervention as an international legal instrument the Convention on the Rights of the Child stands out, where the needs of children in terms of rights are clearly perceived.

The differences established in the ways in which the state intervenes with respect to minors who engage in criminal behavior lead to the definition of four models for the administration of juvenile justice, which are:

Guardianship or Assistance Model

This model has its origin in the late nineteenth century in the United States with the creation of the first juvenile courts. It has inquisitive characteristics concentrating on the judge the functions of accusation, defense and the power to decide on the minor. Indeterminate measures are applied to reorienting and adapting the minor, it is not about repressing and legal guarantees occupy a second order in importance. The defenders of this model insist on stating that minors leave criminal law and in reality only leave the guarantee system. At the time it was an achievement but it was the object of immobility and began to be questioned in some countries.

Community Model

In this model, the judicial route is discarded, presenting a scheme for the protection and rehabilitation of minors through the so-called Childhood Councils or Children's Juries, working with the minor without going through a specific process.

They are basically developed in African countries and China.

Educational Model

It is also known as a permissive model where the minors of the police, the prosecution and social workers choose not to send the cases to justice, prevailing educational methods. Associations and organizations dedicated to social work are consolidated. This model was developed in some European countries.

Justice or responsibility model

It is a system that socially and legally protects minors in conflict with the Criminal Law, establishing differences between social conflicts and crimes, reinforcing the legal position of minors and their guarantees. The intervention of Criminal Law is limited using a variety of sanctions based on educational principles.

This model is characterized by observing principles such as opportunity, speed and flexibility, among others, which place it at an advantage over previous models.

United Nations documents that provide protection to girls and boys.

The problems of childhood are very important because it is at this stage of human life that the main characteristics of their development are defined, both physical and mental, basic learning occurs for their future personal and social performance. However, it is the stage of his life in which he is most unprotected and depends on others to achieve adequate physical and mental health.

This normal development of boys and girls is hampered by serious problems that demand specific attention and cannot be diluted, overlapped and ignored. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding Universal Code of the rights of children in the history of humanity

The countries that ratify it agree to be legally bound by its stipulations and have the obligation to regularly report to a Committee on the Rights of the Child on the actions they have taken to comply with the provisions. It is a United Nations convention that describes the range of rights that boys and girls have at different stages of their development and under different circumstances.

The four guiding principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child are as follows:

Non-discrimination The best interests of the child Survival and development Participation

Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (Beijing Rules).

In 1980, the Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held in Caracas, Venezuela, formulated several basic principles that, in their understanding, should be reflected in a set of rules that had to be developed for the administration juvenile justice system, in order to protect the fundamental human rights of minors who were in difficulty with justice.

A draft of Minimum Rules was formulated. The Rules were approved, in principle, at the regional preparatory meetings for the Seventh United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Treatment of Offenders and an Interregional Preparatory Meeting, held in Beijing, China, from May 14 to 18, 1984, amended and approved. The Standard Minimum Rules for the administration of juvenile justice, known as the Beijing Rules, which the Economic and Social Council presented to the Seventh Congress, held in Milan, Italy, in August and September 1985, were approved on September 6 of the same year by said Congress, which recommended them to the General Assembly for approval. The General Assembly approved the Rules on November 29, 1985 and included them in the annex to its Resolution 40/33.

The Rules represent the minimum conditions accepted by the United Nations for the treatment of juvenile offenders in any system for the treatment of juveniles.

Through the Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, fair and humane treatment must be guaranteed for those who break the law, reducing to the maximum any negative effect of criminal justice on them.

The Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice include four basic principles:

a) The responsibility of the community of nations, both individually and collectively, to guarantee young people the opportunity to have a full life full of meaning as a full member of the development of society.

b) The duty to provide carefully crafted legal protections.

c) The use of pre-trial detention only as a last resort and with special institutional arrangements for imprisonment, always taking into account the needs of age.

d) Recourse to prisons only after a conviction for very serious crimes

On May 21, 1986, the Secretary General was asked to present to the Committee for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders a report on the progress made with respect to the Rules.They were finally approved on December 14, 1990.

The purpose of the Rules is to establish minimum standards accepted by the United Nations for the treatment of minors deprived of liberty that are compatible with their human rights and fundamental freedoms. They are based on the concepts and general knowledge about the specific needs and vulnerability of minors and on the principle that the conditions of detention of the minor should not aggravate the suffering that the deprivation of liberty entails.

Minors can only be deprived of their liberty under conditions that conform to these standards, with countries being concerned about the conditions and circumstances in which minors are being deprived of their liberty throughout the world and that under these circumstances they are extremely vulnerable to violence. mistreatment, victimization and violation of their rights, in addition to the fact that in many systems minors are detained in prison with adults.

The criteria and knowledge applied to the matters referred to in these Rules are constantly evolving

These Rules are intended to complement them and are inspired by four fundamental concerns:

Integration in the community Contact with families Respect for the dignity of minors Elimination of arbitrariness (the right to be treated fairly)

United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency.

The Economic and Social Council, in its Resolution 1986/10, of May 21, 1986, requested the Eighth Congress to examine the draft criteria for the prevention of juvenile delinquency, with a view to its approval, recognizing that it was necessary to establish criteria and national, regional and interregional strategies to prevent juvenile delinquency.

They approved the United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency on December 14, 1990 under the name of the Riyadh Guidelines. These Guidelines establish guidelines for the prevention of juvenile delinquency, giving special importance to the role of the community in preventive programs.

Among the fundamental principles that are established are the following:

Prevention in this sector of the population is an essential part of crime prevention in society; Respect for the personality of adolescents from an early age; Active participation of young people in society; Development of appropriate measures to prevent application of penal sanctions for children's behavior that does not have serious consequences or social repercussions. Development of the prevention of juvenile delinquency taking the community as a starting point.

Legal Protection for girls and boys in Cuba

The situation of children and youth in our country has been a subject to which special attention has been given by our State, with the participation of our legislators, who, fulfilling their preventive function, have embodied in our legislation the protection of this group of the population that starts from the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba itself, specifying its postulates in the Family Code, the Law of Maternity of the Worker, the Labor Code, the Code of Childhood and Youth, the Penal Code; This legislation also complies with the general principles established in United Nations documents.

Adopting as a classification criterion, the object of specific protection that these legal texts perform, we consider that they can be divided into three fundamental groups:

They protect and guarantee the educational, physical and mental development of our children and young people, through the institutions of the national education and family system; They protect children and youth from criminal actions that undermine their normal development; They guarantee the reorientation or reeducation of minors who have shown deviations in their behavior, through the community or in specialized institutions.

Likewise, it is convenient to analyze the fundamental objectives and the essential contents of said texts in the matter at hand. The Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, whose fundamental objective is to lay the economic, political and social foundations of the structure of the Cuban State, establishes, among others, the following aspects:

Constitutional guarantees such as access to education, culture and sports Protection of family and motherhood Equal rights of children The duty of parents to feed their children, defend their interests and contribute to their education and comprehensive training The obligation of children to respect and help their parents The educational policy of the State The protection of children and youth The right to education and its guarantee.

The Family Code's fundamental objective is to regulate all aspects related to the family and it establishes aspects such as:

Parental authority The custody and care of the children The support of the children The obligation of the children The duties and rights of the parents The custody and care and communication between parents and children The extinction, loss and suspension of parental authority. Guardianship of minors.

The Labor Code whose fundamental objective is to regulate the relationships established between the worker and the entities in which they provide their services, their rights, duties and protections; In its content, the beginning of the working life of young people is recognized as a fact of outstanding relevance, establishing as an exception, the beginning of working age to adolescents of 15 and 16 years in the presence of certain circumstances that require it, to what special regulations are established, such as: regulation of the end of the working day that should not exceed seven hours; prohibitions to employ adolescents in certain jobs; work contract under special learning conditions.

The Code of Childhood and Youth in which the moral standards and principles of children and youth are established, by regulating the different aspects of the life of the young generation, their duties and rights and the obligations of people, organizations and institutions involved in their comprehensive training.

This legal text reflects the concern of our State for the comprehensive and harmonious development of our children and youth. Its main aspects include:

The participation of children and youth in the construction of our society and the obligations of those who intervene in their education; The obligation of the family in the integral development of children and young people; The fundamental obligations of children and young people.

The Maternity of the Worker Law protects the right of motherhood and the future care and development of children; guarantees proper maternal and medical care for the newborn and guarantees additional unpaid leave when the mother is prevented from attending her work to care for her newborn child.

The Act of Active Military Service constitutes an exponent of the mission of incorporating our youth to the defense of the country and the young people incorporated when they have declared support or part of their family nucleus, may receive financial aid.

Decree Law No. 76, whose main objective is the creation of the national network of social assistance centers where minors without subsidiary protection will be cared for, establishes in its sixth Because “… the creation, organization and operation of homes for minors and the multiplication of mixed day care centers that, supported by carefully selected and voluntary substitute families, provisionally welcome minors who are without family protection, and attend to their development and education until they are legally adopted or reach the age of civil majority, and adequately housed and located at work ”(1).

Decree Law No. 95 has as its fundamental objective the creation of the Prevention and Social Care Commissions and in its second, four aspects are expressed through which the work of prevention and social care will be developed “… the regulatory function, which is expressed in helping to optimize the normative action of society on the social behavior of those people with manifestations of deviations in compliance with the moral and social standards and principles that signify objective interests of society; the protective function, which is manifested in the protection of the values and interests of the State and society, against all violations of socialist legality; the educational function,Consisting of influencing and persuading those who present deviations to prevent them from engaging in antisocial and criminal behavior; and the analytical and forecasting function, which is reflected in the channeling to a center of dispersed information on social problems, which will allow socio-economic decision-making and, furthermore, be used in forecasts ”. (2)

From those established in Decree Law No.95, Prevention Groups are created at the level of Popular Councils and constituencies, taking into account that the coordinating element at these levels is one of the Vice Presidents of the Popular Council and the Delegate of Power. Popular respectively.

The Prevention Group in the Popular Council is made up of representatives of: Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, Federation of Cuban Women, Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution, Education, Public Health, Culture, Sports, National Revolutionary Police, Prevention Officer of Minors, Integral Transformation Workshops of the Neighborhood (where they exist), directors of the most important work centers in the town. As guests are the Party Instructor and other local personalities who can contribute ideas about preventive work through their knowledge and experiences.

In the district, the Prevention Group is made up of: Coordinator of the CDR Zone, Secretary of the FMC Block, President of the ACRC, Family Doctor, Head of Sector, Directors of educational centers that are in the territory. As guests, the General Secretary of the Party's Zonal Core and other people who can provide their contribution to preventive work participate.

The work of the Prevention Group in the Popular Council and in the constituency is aimed at achieving joint action by its members on those problems that most affect or impede citizen tranquility or what is more important: prevent their emergence or proliferation.

Knowledge of the social problems of the territory that encompasses the territory of the Popular Council or constituency constitutes an indispensable premise for the development of this work.

The Criminal Code's fundamental objective is to establish the behaviors that constitute crimes in our State and the possible sanctions to be applied to each case, and its content establishes aspects that have the essential purpose of protecting children and youth, these are:

The establishment of criminal responsibility from 16 years of age The possibility of reducing the limits of sanctions, when the persons responsible for the commission of a crime are between 16 and 20 years of age The prohibition of application of the death penalty for persons under the age of 20 The accessory penalty of deprivation or temporary suspension of the exercise of parental authority or guardianship Considered as an aggravating circumstance when committing a crime with the participation of minors and the relationship between the offender and the victim. Crimes that include as a specific circumstance the aggravation of when the act is committed with the participation of minors, for example, trafficking and possession of toxic drugs, prohibited games, robbery with force and violence.The aggravation of the sanction in crimes if the victim is a minor, for example, deprivation of liberty, pedophilia with violence, lascivious abuse The accessory sanction to teachers or those in charge of the education of the youth when they commit crimes against normal development of the minor, consisting of the permanent prohibition of the exercise or other function of direction of the youth The deprivation of the rights derived from the parent-child relationship or guardianship when crimes of rape, pedophilia with violence, lascivious abuse, public scandal, are committed, incest and corruption of minors, in the persons of descendants, wards or minors in their care.The crimes of abandonment of minors, corruption of minors and the family of crimes against the normal development of children and youth.deprivation of liberty, pedophilia with violence, lascivious abuses. The accessory sanction to teachers or those in charge of the education of the youth when they commit crimes against the normal development of the minor, consisting of the permanent prohibition of the exercise or other function of youth leadership. The deprivation of the rights derived from the parent-child or guardian relationship when crimes of rape, violent pedophilia, lascivious abuse, public scandal, incest and corruption of minors are committed, in the persons of the descendants, wards or minors in their care The crimes of abandonment of minors, corruption of minors and the family of crimes against the normal development of children and youth.deprivation of liberty, pedophilia with violence, lascivious abuses. The accessory sanction to teachers or those in charge of the education of the youth when they commit crimes against the normal development of the minor, consisting of the permanent prohibition of the exercise or other function of youth leadership. The deprivation of the rights derived from the parent-child or guardian relationship when crimes of rape, violent pedophilia, lascivious abuse, public scandal, incest and corruption of minors are committed, in the persons of the descendants, wards or minors in their care The crimes of abandonment of minors, corruption of minors and the family of crimes against the normal development of children and youth.The accessory sanction to teachers or those in charge of the education of the youth when they commit crimes against the normal development of the minor, consisting of the permanent prohibition of the exercise or another function of direction of the youth The deprivation of the rights derived from the paternal relationship. subsidiary or guardianship when crimes of rape, violent pedophilia, lascivious abuse, public scandal, incest and corruption of minors are committed, in the persons of descendants, wards or minors in their care. The crimes of abandonment of minors, corruption of minors and the family of crimes against the normal development of children and youth.The accessory sanction to teachers or those in charge of the education of the youth when they commit crimes against the normal development of the minor, consisting of the permanent prohibition of the exercise or another function of direction of the youth The deprivation of the rights derived from the paternal relationship. subsidiary or guardianship when crimes of rape, violent pedophilia, lascivious abuse, public scandal, incest and corruption of minors are committed, in the persons of descendants, wards or minors in their care. The crimes of abandonment of minors, corruption of minors and the family of crimes against the normal development of children and youth.The deprivation of the rights derived from the parent-child or guardian relationship when crimes of rape, violent pedophilia, lascivious abuse, public scandal, incest and corruption of minors are committed, in the persons of the descendants, wards or minors in their care The crimes of abandonment of minors, corruption of minors and the family of crimes against the normal development of children and youth.The deprivation of the rights derived from the parent-child or guardian relationship when crimes of rape, violent pedophilia, lascivious abuse, public scandal, incest and corruption of minors are committed, in the persons of the descendants, wards or minors in their care The crimes of abandonment of minors, corruption of minors and the family of crimes against the normal development of children and youth.

Decree Law No. 64 creates the system of care for minors with conduct disorders, which has as its main objective the reorientation or re-education of said minors. This legal text starts from a comprehensive conception of the treatment of minors based on the creation of an articulated, coherent and unitary system and that this treatment is fundamentally an educational task that corresponds to the Ministries of Education and the Interior according to the degree of disorder or social dangerousness of the minor, excluding them from criminal legislation.

System of Attention to Minors with conduct disorders

As expressed in the previous section, Decree Law No. 64 creates a system for the care of minors with conduct disorders, which aims at the reorientation or re-education of these minors and is governed by the Ministries of Education and the Interior..

In the second As of the aforementioned legal text, allusion is made to "The role of the family in the formation of the conscience of children and young people and in their social attitude is of decisive importance…", so that those people who have their minors "… are under the obligation to ensure their correct behavior and assume, consequently, the corresponding responsibility."

In the same way, in the fourth For How Much, it refers to the National Education System and the “… prominent role in the comprehensive and multifaceted training of the young generation, so the school, in fulfilling its social mandate, must provide care specialized students who present discipline or behavior problems and make whatever efforts are necessary for the normal development and the most correct formation of all students.

Article 4 of the Decree Law establishes the member bodies of the System: the conduct schools of the National Education System, the Diagnosis and Orientation Centers, the Minor Assistance Councils of the Ministry of Education, the Evaluation, Analysis and Orientation of Minors, the re-education centers of the Ministry of the Interior, the Councils of Attention to Minors of the Ministry of the Interior and the organs of the National Revolutionary Police.

Establishing in article 5 of the text itself the general powers that correspond to each of these bodies. In this section we intend to present the fundamental functions that these bodies perform in a practical way.

Subsystem of attention to minors of the Ministry of education

From what is established in articles 13 to 15 of the legal text itself, referring to the competence to hear cases. The general characteristics of the minors that are included in the first category are:

Little interest in learning and work; Slow pace in learning, lack of correspondence between chronological age and that required by grade (school delay), irregular school trajectory for various reasons; They do not learn enough the procedures to carry out a certain activity to practice; Incorrect learning habits, refusal to go to school; Occasional absences from school, accept little teaching load; Withdrawn, low self-confidence and doubt their own abilities, so they are hesitant; Lack of willingness to work; Very high or very insignificant, negative, conformist, inhibited demands are made; Prone to crises; Little will; Hyperactive, hypoactive; Voluntary, not sociable, aggressive, irritable, abrupt; Little concentration; Irreflective, superficial;Unstable in certain situations, little development of the feeling of responsibility, contemptuous, little affective; They manifest dissocial behaviors; They change their motivations abruptly; Distrustful, inappropriate or unnecessary gestures and mimics; Difference between thought and emotional reactions; Attitude of rejection, difficulties in complying with social norms and rules in the family community and at school and feel the need for recognition among others.difficulties in complying with social norms and rules in the family community and at school and feel the need for recognition among others.difficulties in complying with social norms and rules in the family community and at school and feel the need for recognition among others.

These traits do not occur in isolation, but are combined in the minor and characterize the difficulties in the development of their personality, which together with other more structured pathological conditions depending on the conditions of life and education, alter communication with the environment. in which they develop.

When referring to the characteristics of the minors who are included in the second category, in addition to taking into account the particularities indicated in the first category, we will take as a point of reference two fundamental indicators: those that require attention in institutions and those that do not. require.

Minors in the second category who require attention in schools for the education of students with conduct disorders.

Those who present systematic escapes, wandering behavior and also commit repeated but low-severity criminal acts, with the influence of a home that has insufficient moral development. Those who have a criminal history since childhood with a very unfavorable family environment that does not guarantee their permanence in General Education and other types of schools Those who manifest behaviors of indiscipline, aggressiveness, disobedience, rebellion, marked school rejection, do not join the school group, bad habits of social coexistence and others in a stable way and do not allows the adaptation to the disciplinary regime of the schools of General Polytechnic and Labor Education and other types of schools Minors who present systematic leaks,They roam the streets and although they do not present other difficulties in their behavior, they even stay outside their homes. Minors who violate established social norms, due to the seriousness and systematization of the facts, do not require measures in other institutions. appropriates objects to satisfy unmet personal needs or for profit on an occasional basis Minors who intentionally and unsystematically incur damages that affect social or personal property Those who show occasional manifestations of physical aggression, quarrels, fights or other similar manifestations. Minors who are disconnected from the National Education System and maintain disrespectful behavior, violating norms of social coexistence.Minors who, acting in a group or individually, damage property for collective use (buses, telephones and others), but on their own initiative and without premeditation.

Minors in the second category who do not require attention in schools for the education of students with conduct disorders.

Minors who have occasionally incurred in an act, but have been linked to a social activity for a long time, parents maintain a positive attitude and only need guidance for proper management. Minors who are only disconnected from school and parents do not control In this situation, it is necessary to relocate them and to make an alert call to parents in the face of this situation. Minors who reject school because they are under-schooled and leave it, so it is necessary to place them in trade schools (youth movement) and do an alert call to him to make the mistake again. The minor who has a problem of pedagogical abandonment, begins to reject the study and make leaks,no measures are taken either by the family or the school and the minor wanders down the street in a state of danger, parents and teachers must be alerted and incorporated into the school Minors who in addition to having a negative family environment and lack For example, they are rejected and abandoned by family members, in order to exercise their life freely, being forced to wander the streets and ask for money among other negative behaviors to be able to eat and satisfy other material needs. socially precarious and economically affected, they are forced to commit criminal acts, robberies and thefts, to solve the home situation and do not really have a social deterioration Minors who are forced to act improperly by people older than them, criminals,relatives and others and commit a criminal act.

Schools of conduct are classified into two types:

a) To attend to students who present serious indiscipline or stable behavioral disorders that hinder, given the complexity of the maladjustment, their learning in General, Polytechnic and Labor Education schools and who do not present other types of complexity or associated problems of social maladjustment.

These schools can be for students up to 16 years of age, girls and boys.

The minors who are diagnosed and are included in the first category of Decree Law No. 64, compulsorily attend internal or seminary schools of this type.

This type of school can be primary or intermediate level.

b) Minors who present dissocial behaviors or antisocial manifestations that do not constitute significant indices of deviations and social dangerousness or that incur antisocial acts that do not show great social dangerousness in their behavior, such as certain intentional or reckless damages, some appropriations of objects, mistreatment of work or injuries that do not have greater entity and public scandal among other behaviors of little danger according to the scope of its consequences.

These schools can be for:

Students up to eleven years of age, female and male; students from 12 to 16 years of age, female or male; students up to 16 years of age, female or male.

This type of school can be primary or intermediate level.

Students who are diagnosed and are included in the second category of Decree Law No. 64, may be admitted to these schools. In this case, internment constitutes a pedagogical measure that allows the reeducation process to be carried out

All minors who arrive at the Council of Attention to Minors of the Ministry of Education by any of the established channels must be analyzed and ruled, except those who arrive from the Council of Attention to Minors of the Ministry of the Interior with the individualized attention measure within of the schools of the National Education System.

The analysis of all the information on the physical and mental health of the minor, the state of microsocial or pedagogical abandonment, the characteristics of the relationships and the results of their activity, among others, allow us to specify the measures and methods of influences and as a result, the elaboration in the school of the plan of individual measures with a view to their re-education.

Every minor when arriving at the Council has to undergo a deep and meticulous analysis that begins with the study of all the documentation collected in the clinical-pedagogical file and that carries implicit: the psycho-pedagogical characterization, the psychiatric social history, applied psychometric tests, results of the speech therapy examination, study of school skills and knowledge, assessment of personality development, diagnosis and recommendations.

In order for the Council to carry out the analysis referred to in the previous paragraph, the documentation submitted comes from the Center for Diagnosis and Guidance (CDO), which is one of the bodies that make up the Minor Assistance Subsystem of the Ministry of Education.

The Diagnosis and Guidance Center among its work objectives has the following:

Investigate pedagogically, medically and psychologically minors who are supposedly abnormal in their psychic and somatic development Make their differential selection and propose the placement in the corresponding special school Guide parents and teachers the treatment to follow with minors who have difficulties and who They must continue in primary school. Guide parents and teachers to minors located in special schools, to favor a better correction or compensation of the deficit in this type of students.

All Diagnosis and Orientation Center will be directly subordinate to the Provincial Directorate of Education.

The Diagnostic and Orientation Centers will have, to carry out their scientific, technical and teaching work, multidisciplinary technical teams that will be responsible for investigating the minors, deciding their diagnosis, determining their level of preparation and schooling, orienting their school placement and issuing the recommendations for its treatment.

Every minor who is referred to the Center for Diagnosis and Guidance must possess the psychopedagogical characterization, a document that is prepared by the school and without which the minor will not be treated in said institution.

Once the case has been analyzed in the Diagnosis and Guidance Center, it delivers its report to the Council so that the corresponding resolution can be issued.

When this information reaches the Council incomplete, it is necessary to rely on the field work with the school (interviews with teachers, students and workers), the community and carry out interviews with relatives and the minor object of analysis in order to clarify doubts, delve into some aspects and have all the elements that allow them to prepare an objective opinion.

The opinion issued by the Council of the cases analyzed must contain the necessary information in such a way as to allow organizing an individual action plan that responds to the specific needs of each minor and thereby carry out corrective work with the minors.

Subsystem of Attention to Minors of the Ministry of the Interior

In the Subsystem of Attention to Minors of the Ministry of the Interior, minors included in categories 2 and 3 that are established in Decree Law No. 64 and in accordance with the provisions of articles 13 to 15 of the legal text referring to the competence to hear the cases.

In the general characteristics of minors who are included in the categories served by the Ministry of the Interior, those expressed in the previous section are present when referring to minors who are the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, only that in our case there have been various interactions characteristics of those already mentioned and the minor has put himself in a situation of committing an act that the law classifies as a crime or has incurred in it, he may even repeat himself in the commission of acts, which in many cases is given by the lack of individual or differentiated treatment of the risk factors present in the minor and his family environment, which in turn may be given for different reasons.

If we return to articles 4 and 5 of Decree Law No. 64, we find in them the bodies that make up the System of Attention to Minors with conduct disorders that make up the subsystem of attention to minors of the Ministry of the Interior, which we will study in greater detail below. stop.

The Prevention Body, represented by the Prevention Officer, is in charge of executing the surveillance and attention measure by the Ministry of the Interior and its functions are framed in two main aspects: the general prophylaxis that is carried out at the community level and the Individual prophylaxis that is carried out with minors and young people in categories 2 and 3 of the Ministry of the Interior.

In addition, within their functions are the work interrelationships that occur with political, social and mass organizations and the organisms of the Central State Administration that participate in prophylactic work as non-specialized subjects of prevention and with other specialties of the Ministry of the Interior, whether or not they are members of the System of Attention to Minors, as specialized subjects of prevention.

We will address in greater detail what is related to the general and individual prophylaxis carried out by the Juvenile Officer.

The Centers for the Evaluation, Analysis and Orientation of Minors (CEAOM), in accordance with the provisions of subsection d) of article 5 of Decree Law No. 64, have as general powers “… analyze the personalities of minors, the facts in those who have participated and recommend the pertinent measures to adopt ”.

The evaluation process of the minor in the CEAOM can take place externally or internally and in all cases it will begin with the receipt of the documentation from the competent body to order the evaluation of the minor (National Revolutionary Police, Prevention Officer, Counterintelligence, Center of Reeducation, Council of Attention to Minors).; Said documentation must have the information that establishes that the minor is included in the second or third categories provided for in article 2 of Decree Law No. 64.

The objectives of the evaluation process are:

Investigate at the individual level the causes that have determined the behavior of the minor object of evaluation. Determine the educational conditions and the psychological particularities of the personality. Establish the training objectives to be achieved with the minor.

From these objectives of the evaluative process we can derive that this process encompasses three moments of analysis in the investigation of personality:

The mechanism of deviant behavior, its characterization, the legal aspects of the minor's personality, the conditions of education or formation of the personality and the educational process the minor has gone through, the psychological-moral particularities of the personality.

The evaluation process is in charge of a multidisciplinary team made up of a lawyer, a pedagogue and a psychologist, who will carry out the corresponding evaluations, taking as background the information offered by the body that sent the minor to evaluate, the results of the social history, as well as the results that are obtained from the rest of the evaluations.

This evaluation process concludes with the opinion of the case, which is carried out with the presence of the technicians who evaluated the minor and the secretary of the Opinion Commission, in which the Prevention Officer and / or Reeducutor who attends to the minor may also participate., given the interest that exists with the case under analysis.

The opinion has as fundamental objectives:

Establish the causes that determined and the conditions that contributed to the manifestation of the conduct or the commission of the act that the law classifies as a crime. Propose the measure to be adopted with the minor and the guidelines for treatment.

The Reeducation Centers have the responsibility of modifying bad habits and educational defects that have contributed to the social deviation of the minor, as well as influencing the formation of a personality in accordance with the demands of our society, through general, polytechnic, ideological education, physical, moral and aesthetic of minors and once this is achieved, achieve their integration into society. The Centers are educational institutions that are in charge of the specialized treatment of minors to whom an internment measure has been applied by the corresponding Council.

The particularities of the organization of reeducation in the Centers will be analyzed in Chapter III of this text.

The Council of Attention to Minors of the Ministry of the Interior, like the Council of the Ministry of Education, has as general powers, in accordance with the provisions of Decree Law No. 64, to provide the measures that correspond to minors who They have been made available to you in accordance with the provisions of article 20 of the aforementioned legal text and, based on knowledge of the file presented by the corresponding body, monitor their execution and decide on any change in the measures provided.

The control of the fulfillment of the measures executed by the Council constitutes a main way to know and assess the evolution of the minor, the work of the executing bodies and the degree of completion of the individual plans drawn up, their effectiveness and validity. This control is carried out mainly through direct checks on the measures decided by the Councils and the semi-annual reports prepared by the executing bodies.

The Council also has the power to warn legal representatives (Articles 31 and 32 of Decree Law No. 64) of their manifest irresponsibility in the care and treatment of minors.

It is the responsibility of the police bodies to investigate events in which minors have participated, including their behavior in general and that of their family nucleus, as well as their social environment, providing the results of the investigations to the competent Provincial Council of Attention to Minors.

Conclusions

The problem of juvenile delinquency and the legal transgression of minors has led to the creation of policies and conceiving programs for the prevention and treatment of the needs of children and young people.

After the work, we consider that the issue of protection of children and youth in our country has received special attention from the State, so we are in a position to identify our problems and find the answers according to our particular characteristics and legacies. historical ones tempering us to the national and international scope in the matter.

Our country, despite the difficult conditions in which it has developed, has spared no effort and use of the necessary means for the prevention, detection, and confrontation of deviant behaviors and transgressions of the law. The family, the school and the The community plays a leading role in detecting and attacking the causes and conditions that promote deviations in the behavior of minors and young people. Coordination of the effective participation of the different factors and institutions that influence preventive treatment. more active participation of the mass media as an educational method in the identification and reporting of events that affect the level of development of children and youth to attack their causes and conditions.Compliance with and control of the legislation is of vital importance together with consensus and popular support for the safeguarding and protection of children and young people in our society, thereby achieving the reduction of juvenile delinquency on a social scale.

recommendations

Once the conclusions have been made and the objectives have been met, we consider that Cuba should continue on the path of commitment to social progress, of independence in the elaboration of its non-conservative discourse, focused on the real problem that affects the social order, therefore We consider it appropriate to propose recommendations that guarantee a better confrontation with the manifestations of transgressions of the Law by children and young people.

Establish necessary spaces that allow raising the culture of the family, the population and the jurists in relation to the negative effects of the phenomenon by analyzing it in the public media. Attend in a differentiated way in community work according to the characteristics of young people in each territory through planned programs of attention to individual differences of the subjects recognized as problematic. Perfect educational action and preventive work in the face of problems faced by children as a vulnerable social group by promoting educational talks, supporting ourselves in the channels established by the national system of public health Strengthen the work of social orientation of minors who manifest deviant behaviors on the part of student centers, labor administrations,political and social organizations and especially for the family by establishing a permanent link with the ministry of labor and social security of each municipality that allows monitoring the follow-up actions towards a correct orientation through the groups of social workers belonging to this sector. revolutionary vigilance as an elementary principle aimed at providing timely and adopting the necessary measures in small permanent status commissions within the CDRs that allow detecting and controlling situations that promote juvenile delinquency on a social scale.and especially for the family by establishing a permanent link with the ministry of labor and social security of each municipality that allows monitoring the follow-up actions towards a correct orientation through the groups of social workers belonging to this sector. as an elementary principle aimed at providing timely and adopting the necessary measures in small permanent status commissions within the CDRs that allow detecting and controlling the situations that promote juvenile delinquency on a social scale.and especially for the family by establishing a permanent link with the ministry of labor and social security of each municipality that allows monitoring the follow-up actions towards a correct orientation through the groups of social workers belonging to this sector. as an elementary principle aimed at providing timely and adopting the necessary measures in small permanent status commissions within the CDRs that allow detecting and controlling the situations that promote juvenile delinquency on a social scale.Strengthen revolutionary surveillance as an elementary principle aimed at timely anticipating and adopting the necessary measures in small permanent status commissions within the CDRs that allow detecting and controlling situations that promote juvenile delinquency on a social scale.Strengthen revolutionary surveillance as an elementary principle aimed at timely anticipating and adopting the necessary measures in small permanent status commissions within the CDRs that allow detecting and controlling situations that promote juvenile delinquency on a social scale.

Bibliography

Poquet Alejandro. Criminal Law and Criminology Issues. Authors' Collective. Criminology 2003, Baratta Alessandro. Critical Criminology and Criticism of Criminal Law, Baratta Alessandro. Criminology and the Penal System, Family Code, Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, Decree Law No. 64 of 1982, Lombroso César. The Criminals, Selected Books. Law No. 62 Penal Code.