Education and Violence:

reflections on homicides, school dropouts and youth vulnerability in Fortaleza, Ceará

Abstract

Amid the penetration of criminal groups, the so-called “facções”, in the popular neighborhoods of the capital of Ceará, in this article we will seek to explore the possible connections between school dropouts and experiences of vulnerability to the homicide of young people in these spaces of the city. The reflections are drawn from a bibliographical study interspersed with observations and excerpts from the researchers' field diaries based on their experiences in the Cearense Committee for the Prevention of Homicide in Adolescence (CCPHA). The data presented show that the main victims of homicides are young people aged 15 to 29 years, male, black and with low education. We observe that, although education is a social right guaranteed by law, it is still not concretely effective for all subjects, so that those most vulnerable face a series of obstacles, ranging from the difficulties in getting a place in the school network to the ban on attending the educational establishment, due to its location in territories dominated by “rival factions”, which often lead them to drop out of school before completing basic education. From this perspective, education has the potential to act as a protective factor in the lives of adolescents, being a viable path in the process of confronting and preventing crime, in particular, homicide among young people.