The Statute of Children and Adolescents ( a Brazilian law related to children and adolescents), contains articles regulating the practice of the infraction act and the socioeducational procedures leading the adolescent to reflect on the offense committed and its subsequent return to the familial interaction. The objective was to understand the social representations of adolescents in conflict with the law about socioeducative practice with privation of liberty. The study included 50 adolescents who completed interviews with depth which, thereafter, were subjected to content analysis. The results showed seven empirical categories: conception of the practice socioeducative of privation of freedom, description of the institution, professional image, perception of self-image, life experience, demonstrations and biopsycognitve life project. Social representations indicated that the practice presented a non-socialization primacy in relation to socialization. The social actors have shown that if the practice of socioeducative which is related with the privation of liberty is just and humane, they can be succeed in re-socialization of these adolescents and in overcoming their excluded condition.
Adolescent in conflict with the law; freedom privation; social representations