El tratamiento jurídico de los adolescentes reclutados por organizaciones delictivas y su reconocimiento como víctimas en el sistema penal ecuatoriano

Abstract

This study analyzes the legal treatment of adolescents recruited by criminal organizations in Ecuador, based on the Doctrine of Comprehensive Protection and the Principle of the Best Interests of the Child. The study is based on the premise that recruitment is not a free and voluntary choice, but rather a process of recruitment, subjugation, and instrumentalization shaped by structural vulnerability factors such as poverty, school dropout, social exclusion, family disintegration, and the absence of effective state protection networks. Using a descriptive approach, through a review of legal doctrine, legislation, and case law, the study examines the tension between the treatment of adolescents as offenders within the juvenile justice system and their prior condition as victims of coercion, violence, and manipulation by criminal organizations. The findings reveal a gap between the legal framework established in the Constitution of the Republic, the Code of Childhood and Adolescence, and international human rights instruments, and certain judicial practices that prioritize punitive responses over protection and reintegration measures. Consequently, it is concluded that recruited adolescents cannot be understood exclusively as perpetrators or accomplices to a crime, but also as subjects entitled to enhanced protection, whose situation requires a state response aligned with specialized justice, minimal penal intervention, and the effective restoration of their rights.