O desenvolvimento dos direitos da infância e juventude no Brasil: um olhar sobre o Código de Menores e o Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente

Abstract

This study examines the historical and legal development of child and youth protection policies in Brazil, with emphasis on the transition from the Código de Menores (1927 and 1979) to the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (1990). The research seeks to understand how different political and institutional contexts, particularly the military dictatorship, the democratization process and the promulgation of the 1988 Federal Constitution, influenced changes in the legal treatment of children and adolescents. It discusses the shift from a tutelary and repressive paradigm to a comprehensive protection perspective, which recognizes children and adolescents as rights-bearing subjects. Furthermore, the study analyzes the normative advances brought by the ECA, as well as the structural challenges that still hinder the full realization of these rights in Brazilian society.