Police detentions of adolescents in Uruguay: perceptions and experiences

Police detention of adolescents is a controversial social phenomenon. In the absence of witnesses (persons, technological records, etc.), the social relationship between policemen and adolescents becomes a black box of ignorance and doubt. Due to this, the detention is a moment conducive to law infringement. This entails, in not a few occasions, violations of the adolescents human rights, such as: physical violence, arbitrary detention, corruption, etc. In the case of Uruguay, this issue has been scarcely approached in empiric terms. Thus, the paper examines the detention experience of adolescents in conflict with the law as well as the social representations of the police from their point of view.