Abstract

This article aims to explore the interactions that young people in conflict with the law maintain with the psi languages and technologies that, since the mid-2000s, have been implemented in Chile as expert knowledge in the treatment of young offenders. Through a qualitative analysis of ethnographic materials, and secondary sources from other research conducted in Chile on the subject, I show the uses and appropriations that young people make of these discourses and technologies in their everyday lives, for example, the appropriation of psi categories and the consumption of psychotropic drugs in order to manage their afflictions and improve their criminal performance. In conclusion, I argue the need to rethink psychiatrization and other forms of governance in a situated way and as complex, porous and bidirectional processes.