El rol de los menores infractores en el crimen organizado

Abstract

Organized crime in Ecuador has grown exponentially in recent years, characterized by corruption and violence, a key point of operation and refuge for criminal organizations. Being located in the most geographically attractive points for drug trafficking, with proximity to Colombia and Peru, dollarization and sophisticated routes, directly affects the security and control of the country. The impact that organized crime has on society, especially on adolescents, is substantially negative, since adolescents play an important role within criminal groups, from drug, money, and weapons trafficking to contract killings, murder, etc. Adolescent offenders who have committed infractions and/or crimes defined by law are regulated by the Code of Children and Adolescents, before a justice system that is different from the ordinary one for people over 18 years of age. Criminal groups find it beneficial to "use" adolescents to commit criminal acts. It should be noted that they are not unaccountable, but depending on the crime and/or infraction, they will be given socio-educational measures or, in cases of greater complexity, institutional confinement for no more than 8 years.The main focus of the research project is to understand the involvement, its development and the main causes of why adolescents end up subsumed in that environment, in addition to the legal and social repercussions, adolescent offenders in conflicto with the law fase stigma, rejection and social exclusion, adding to the ineffectivenessof rehabilitation by the Centers for Adolescent Offenders, since without adequate support a cycle of reintegration is expected.