Abstract

MARTINS, Maria José D.; SIMAO, Ana Margarida Veiga  and  ESTEVAO, Beatriz. Conceptions on the notions of justice and court in children from 6 to 10 years: the voice of children. Invest. Práticas [online]. 2020, vol.10, n.2, pp.50-68. ISSN 2182-1372.  https://doi.org/10.25757/invep.v10i2.223.

Most European countries, including Portugal, consider education for citizenship to be a mandatory curricular component associated with democracy and social justice. The Convention on the rights of the child and Portuguese law allow the hearing of the child in civil and criminal proceedings in court. Thus, this research aimed to understand what the children's conceptions about justice and court and their evolution from 6 to 10 years old. 146 children attending a primary school were interviewed. The majority of children in the 1^st and 2^nd grades considers justice as retributive and court as a place of punishment for those who commit crimes. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for citizenship education at school and the child's participation in in the several settings of their lives, namely the possibility to be heard in court.

Keywords : children; justice; court; citizenship.

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