Childhood-Adolescence, State and Law. A constitutional vision

Abstract

This paper examines the protection that the State, the family and the society provide to childhood in different stages of history. Several research methods were used; the historic and logical analysis, the hermeneutic approach and comparative procedures were among them. These methods and procedures allow the comparative study of constitutional texts in European and Latin-American regions. In selecting the sample, three groups of countries were privileged: those that specify rights into a larger extent; those which incorporate amplification in the ratio of rights in the new Latin American Constitutions; and those that exemplify the democratization of the region during the last decades. The study was aimed at appraising the legal status of children and adolescents in the process of evolution of constitutional rights. The main result of the paper is a framework which systematizes a comparative approach to constitutional legislation dealing with the rights of children and adolescents.