CEAD Francisco Suárez invites the entire academic community and the interested public to participate in the Open Lecture entitled “Victims or Offenders? Criminal Exploitation of Children and Youth and the Limits of the Punitive System”, which will take place on April 30, 2026, at 6:00 PM, in Room C1.1.
This initiative is part of the Master’s Degree in Criminal Law Sciences, within the course unit Punitive System, and proposes a critical reflection on one of the most complex and current issues in contemporary criminal law: the position of children and young people involved in contexts of criminal exploitation — are they victims, offenders, or both?
The session will feature guest speaker Cláudia Quintans Costa, from the University of Huddersfield (Queensgate, Huddersfield), whose research and academic experience will contribute to a deeper and more qualified understanding of this topic.
Throughout the Open Lecture, the challenges these realities pose to the justice system will be discussed, namely the limits of punitive intervention, the adequacy of institutional responses, and the need for more integrated approaches that reconcile protection, accountability, and social reintegration.
The Open Lecture thus constitutes a privileged space for interdisciplinary debate, bringing together students, academics, and professionals from the fields of law, criminology, and social sciences, promoting critical analysis and the deepening of knowledge on a topic of high social and legal relevance.