Abstract
This study analyzes the reports of police officers on violence prevention initiatives in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The theoretical-methodological framework of the social sciences, based on interpretative anthropology, was used to analyze the data. The results reveal the demand for intervention at an increasingly early stage, aiming at young people from outlying urban neighborhoods in both countries. Dysfunctional family environment, social vulnerability and involvement with crime are cited as risk factors. Reports such as these, promote the prospect of negativity and of labeling youth as a “social problem”, reuniting formulations that are structured on the basis of the symbiosis between the role of agent of the state and the moral ethos that supports the individual decisions of police officers. The study highlights the complexity of the interventions, and the dispute around the forms of control and the maintenance of order in the two contexts analyzed. It is suggested that future studies investigate how the rationale present in the field of public health has been incorporated into public safety policies and programs. The risks of narratives reinforcing the stigmatization of underprivileged youths in violence prevention initiatives are emphasized.
Key words:
Prevention; Violence; Youth; Public Health; Policing