ABSTRACT.
This article aimed to map intellectual discourses regarding childhood detainment between 1900 and 1929, identifying and problematizing the uses of scientific knowledge connected with Psychology produced in the period. The analysis period comprises a historical consolidation and expansion of the childhood guardianship policy, which materialized in the construction of confinement spaces for this population and the promulgation of laws to deal with this issue. We resorted to reading and analyzing primary sources: Franco Vaz, Infância abandonada (Childhood abandoned); Lemos Britto, Um problema gravíssimo: colônias correcionais e tribunais de menores (A very serious problem: correctional colonies and juvenile court); As leis de menores no Brasil (páginas de crítica e doutrina) (Minority laws in Brazil (criticism and doctrine pages); reports from the Ministério da Justiça e Negócios Interiores - MJNI (Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs) between 1900 and 1928; and secondary sources. Psychological knowledge was present in the organization, and scientific support of these discourses served to defend and consolidate internment as the main measure. Psychological arguments were also used to defend limiting detention and legitimizing alternative measures. The period in question was important for the production of Psychology as a Science, and psychological knowledge shaped the measures proposed and used by the State in dealing with childhood.
Keywords:
History of psychology; childhood; institutionalization