Event Marks Interinstitutional Commitment With The Mental Health Of Adolescents In Compliance Of Socio-Educational Measure

How to guarantee care instead of control? Justice instead of exclusion? The dialogue among mental health, justice and socio-education gained space in the auditorium of the Court of Justice of the State of Tocantins on Wednesday morning (October 22nd), with the opening of the event on Interfaces among Justice System, Mental Health and Socio- education. The programming brought together authorities and experts to discuss ways of protection and care - and propose possible answers to these questions.

At the official beginning of the programming, the assistant judge of the Presidency of the TJTO, Esmar Custódio Vêncio Filho, emphasized that facing violations in the socio-educational system requires articulation between the executive and judicial powers, in the state and municipal spheres. In his speech, the magistrate also shared impressions of his academic research, drawing attention to the absence of systematized data on mental disorders among adolescents in compliance with measure.

“And when we talk about the socio-educational system, we have to logically involve not only the operators of the Law but especially the Executive, state and municipal power", observed.

The intersectoral articulation was reinforced throughout the ceremony. The Secretary of Health of the Municipality of Araguaína, Dênia Rodrigues Chagas, defended the importance of the partnership among health, education and justice. Also representing the municipalities, the executive secretary of Health of Gurupi, Ricardo da Silva de Jesus, assessed that the event will contribute to new strategies in the face of current challenges.

Representing the Federal University of the state of Tocantins (UFT), Marta Azevedo dos Santos brought to light the centrality of human dignity in public policies. "Reflecting on the interfaces among the Justice System, mental health and social education is to affirm that human dignity is the meeting point between care and justice," she said. In addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), she completed:

“Care cannot be fragmented, it must be articulated among health, education, justice and social assistance (...). May this event be remembered as a milestone of convergence among knowledge, care and justice, and that new partnerships emerge to transform healthier indicators, policies and realities.”

The connection between the event and the historical guidelines of civil society was brought by Mônica Pereira Brito, from the Center for the Defense of the Rights of Children and Adolescents in the state of Tocantins:

"This is a strategic theme, it is a historical guideline of the social movements, to align socio-education with justice and mental health." Referring to the book World in Dispute by Márcia Tiburi, Mônica proposed critical reflections on the role of socio-education.

“It is paradigmatic to say that socio-education is a right and that we fight here for socio-education, not for punishment (...) this is a dispute of ideas, fight against patriarchy, capacitism, racial theory, capitalism".

During the ceremony, representatives of partner institutions also spoke: the state secretary for education, Hercules Jackson Moreira Santos, reported actions aimed at young people accompanied by the folder; the executive secretary of social assistance, Washington Luiz Vasconcelos, reiterated the commitment of the State Government to an integrated action; the executive secretary of health, Ana Paula dos Santos Andrade Abadia, stressed that the participation of the State in the inter-institutional group will consolidate care flows and ensure integrated mental health care.

“This is an agenda that requires sensitivity, co-responsibility and, above all, integrated action between the Justice System and public policies", emphasized Ana.

The state secretary for Citizenship and Justice, Estelamaris Postal, shared experiences of management and valued the impact of care policies. "The theme that brings us together goes far beyond a technical or legal debate, it speaks directly about human lives, about stories of adolescents who (...) still carry in themselves the power of reconstruction and hope," she added.

Judge Adriano Gomes de Melo Oliveira, coordinator of Childhood and Youth of the TJTO, reinforced that the priority to childhood must materialize in the structure of services.

"This priority must be applicable to all. The TJTO has made the Court of Children and Youth of the city of Palmas today the judicial unit with the best structure, in terms of advisory services, of a multidisciplinary team", he said.

Representing the Monitoring and Supervision Group (GMF) of the TJTO, Judge José Eustáquio de Melo Júnior, coordinator of the area, commented that the event seeks to reflect on care practices and human rights in the socio-educational system. "The programming designed for this event sought to incorporate contents that deal with the most varied dimensions of care, highlighting the shared responsibilities (...) and the understanding of the Judiciary as an agent articulator of public policies, inducer of good practices and guarantor of rights", assessed.

Formalized commitment to mental health in socio-educational

During the ceremony, it was symbolically signed the Joint Ordinance no 12 of the Court of Justice of the State of Tocantins, 2025, and partner institutions, that establishes the Inter-institutional Working Group to build strategies and agree actions aimed at mental health care of adolescents attended by the socio-educational system. The initiative is aligned with the Law no 10.216, of 2001, and the Resolution no 487 of the CNJ, of 2023, which establishes the Anti-Asylum Policy of the Judiciary.

Opening conference reinforces the role of the judiciary in guaranteeing rights

Closing the morning programming, the opening conference was taught by video conference by Justice Ruy Muggiati, supervisor of the GMF of the Court of Justice of the state of Paraná (TJPR), with mediation of Judge José Eustáquio.

In addressing the theme on "The Judiciary and the Anti-Asylum Policy: guaranteeing rights and mental health in socio-educational", the justice - whose trajectory in the field of human rights and criminal execution has provoked reflections on the limits of the punitive model still in force - highlighted:

“It is an honor to be here in this meeting, which calls us to discuss intersectoriality and structuring perspectives of the socio-educational model (...) we recall that access to health is fundamental for life”.

For the magistrate, the execution of the sentence, when reduced to a technical execution of the sentence, fails to recognize the human complexity of the subject deprived of liberty and ignores the responsibility of the State to guarantee the rights that were not affected by the conviction. "There is no reintegration possible without reconstruction," he stressed, emphasizing the importance of qualified listening, the recognition of trajectories and the offer of real opportunities for the resumption of autonomy of adolescents and young people in conflict with the law.

The programming of the event follows throughout the afternoon of this Wednesday (October 22nd) and continues on Thursday (October 23rd), with thematic tables and debates focused on the qualification of practices in the socio-educational system.