YOUTH AND ADULT EDUCATION AS A VARIABLE FOR THE REDUCTION OF CRIME RATES IN BRAZIL

Abstract

The present work aims to investigate whether there is a relationship between education and the reduction of crime rates in Brazil. The problem of the research is, then, to verify whether Youth and Adult Education has the potential to influence crime rates in Brazil. As a hypothesis, it is suggested that youth and adult education has the potential to influence crime rates in Brazil for at least two reasons: i) as a matter of logic, the time in which the student will be in class will not be available for criminal activities; ii) education allows for better placement in the labor market, changing the opportunities and costs of involvement in criminal activities. To confirm or refute the hypothesis, it was necessary to understand the historical construction of youth and adult education in Brazil, identify the profile of the prison population and verify how education has the potential to influence crime rates. At the end of the research, the hypothesis was confirmed.