We explore the everyday life of a group of young people in conflict with the law and the relationships they maintain with the devices and strategies of the Law 20.084 on Adolescent Criminal Responsibility (LRPA). First, we describe the ethnographic context of the research. Then, we show their forms of sociability, moral experiences and interactions between young people and the adolescent penal system’s devices. Materials suggest that young people’s experiences are closely linked to a series of local values, norms and expectations around representations about masculinity and adulthood. Thus, through their moral experiences, young people reveal how they engage with criminal practices, as well as identifying their points of friction and conflict with the LRPA strategies.