Juvenile Crime Prevention

Juvenile Crime PreventionJuvenile Crime Prevention

Adélaïde Vanhove, IJJONovember 27-28, 2013, Riga

Adélaïde Vanhove, IJJONovember 27-28, 2013, Riga

International Foundation based in Bruxelles. IJJO Aims:

To bring an international and interdisciplinary vision of juvenile justice

To create multidisciplinary network of experts To promote development strategies, policies and

intervention methods.

Beneficiaries: Children and young people at-risk Beneficiaries: Children and young people at-risk of exclusion or in conflict with the criminal law.of exclusion or in conflict with the criminal law.

Pillars: Prevention policies. Promotion of educative and alternative Measures. Social & professional inclusion.

IJJO main action lines: Research and analysis. Public awareness and dissemination of information. Training and technical assistance. Advovacy work. Regional think tanks.

I. The IJJO: for a fair juvenile justice I. The IJJO: for a fair juvenile justice worlwide worlwide

I. IJJO International Biannual Conference

27-29.10.2004SALAMANCA

25-26.10.2006BRUSSELS

21-22.10.2008VALENCIA

09-10.11.2010ROME

2012LONDON

2014???

The 1st International Conference 'Juvenile Justice and the Prevention of Delinquency in a Globalized World‘.250 people from 30 countries around the world met at this First Conference.

The 2nd International Conference: 'Juvenile justice in Europe: a framework for integration‘ gathered during two days, more than 300 professionals from 35 countries.

The 3rd International Conference: 'Juvenile Justice Systems in Europe: current situation, trends in applicable models and good practices‘ during two days gathered more than 450 practitioners and experts from 45 countries in Europe, America, Africa and Australia

The 4th International Conference: 'Building Integrated Juvenile Justice systems: Approaches and methodologies regarding mental disorders and drug misuse'. In total gathered more than 350 assistants from 50 countries coming from Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

The 5th International Conference: ´Criminality or Social Exclusion? Justice for Children in a Divided World´.

International Juvenile Justice Observatory´s NEXT STEPS towards enhanced protection of juveniles

The IJJO has been granted the OBSERVATORY STATUS in the Liaison Group of the European Economic and Social Committee with the civil society organisations and networks.

I.MAIN IJJO RECOGNITIONS

The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has granted the IJJO the UN SPECIAL CONSULTATIVE STATUS.

The IJJO has been recognised as an ‘EXPERT NGO’ of the European Forum for the Rights of the Child for the European Union.

The IJJO and the UN Latin American Institute (ILANUD) Section Brazil, have signed a COLLABORATION AGREEMENT to promote development of Juvenile Justice in Brazil and Latin America.

The IJJO has been granted the PARTICIPATORY STATUS by the Council of Europe.

The IJJO is participating in - financed by the Directorate-General of Justice, of the European Commission - as expert on several innitiatives European Dimensions in Juvenile Delinquency.

The UN Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) has established with IJJO OPERATIONAL RELATIONS.

The IJJO and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) HOSTED THE INTEGRACY JUVENILE JUSTICE PANEL´S 2011 ANNUAL MEETING, in Brussels, (Belgium), April 5-6, 2011.

INTERNATIONAL LEVEL EUROPEAN LEVEL

International Standards

• The convention of the right of child and the CRC

According to art. 6 (right to development) and of art. 29 (aims of education) of the CRC, it is obviously not in the best interests of the child if he/she grows up under circumstances that may cause an increased or serious risk of becoming involved in criminal activities.

Articles 18 and 27 CRC confirm the importance of the responsibility of parents for the upbringing of their children, But the CRC consistently requires States Parties to provide the necessary assistance to parents (or other caretakers) in the performance of their parental responsibilities.

The CRC systematically recommends implementing a juvenile justice system in conformity with Convention in particular articles 37, 40 and 39,


• The CRC General Comment N 10 ‘Emphasis should be placed on prevention policies facilitating the successful socialization and integration of all children, in particular through the family, the community, peer groups, schools, vocational training and the world of work, as well as through voluntary organizations.’

‘The States Parties should also develop community based services and programmes, which respond to the special needs, problems, concerns and interests of children, in particular of children repeatedly in conflict with the law, and which provide appropriate counselling and guidance to their families”


• The United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (The Riyadh Guidelines)

The prevention of juvenile delinquency cannot be reduce to the field of criminal juvenile justice, but must include all childhood and adolescence related fields; there is no such thing as prevention exclusively targeting criminal behaviour.

The successful prevention of juvenile delinquency requires efforts on the part of the entire society to ensure the harmonious development of adolescents.


• 1995 Guidelines for Cooperation and Technical Assistance in the Field of Urban Crime Prevention (ECOSOC Resolution 1995/9, annex).

Recommends as a major strategy, to prevent youth delinquency and crime, the trend toward the inclusion of youth-at-risk and to facilitate the reintegration of sentenced offenders.

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on The prevention of juvenile delinquency. Ways of dealing with juvenile delinquency and the role of the juvenile justice system in the European Union

“It is useful to note that in many cases the victims of juvenile delinquency are young people themselves. “

“The importance that European society attaches to juvenile delinquency means that effective responses must be found, which will have to be built principally on a three-fold foundation: – prevention, – punitive-educational measures, and – the social integration or re-integration of minors and young offenders.”

EU Standards

‘We can define the juvenile delinquency’s prevention as the measures taken by the governments to deter juvenile to commit offences, or to reduce the number of crime, as well as to maintain the public security and to reduce, de facto, the victimization.’

Jean ZermattenFormer CRC President

Juvenile Crime Prevention: Definition

It is generally believed that the separation of those concepts plays an important role in crime prevention, but in reality it makes sense when we think about responsibility and the punishment.

If we think about prevention, these concepts blend into one – this is just a person whom we must help to grow up.

Who? Children, Youth, or minors?

If our aim is to keep young people away from harm caused by crime –

prevention is related to all groups of young people

Child, adolescent, minor, young adult

«80. Young people who live in difficult circumstances are often at risk of becoming delinquent. Poverty, dysfunctional families, substance abuse and the death of family members have been demonstrated to be risk factors for becoming delinquent. Insecurity due to an unstable social environment increases vulnerability, and young people with poorly developed social skills are less able to protect themselves against the negative influences of a peer group.»

United Nations World Youth Report (2005)http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/wpayjuvenile.htm#WYR2005

What does it mean – Youth at risk?

What does it mean – Youth at risk?

• Primary Prevention: on social and economical factor

Under the responsibility of the government (social affairs, education, health, employment etc), not in the hands of the judiciary power.

It addresses individual and family level factors correlated with a possible criminal activity.

It’s well-known that individual level factors such as school attendance and involvement in social activities have an important preventive impact, in particular to children and adolescents, and decrease the probability of criminal involvement. But, it also important to underline the necessity to involve the family (nuclear family or family at large if appropriate) to reduce individual risks.

The prevention, in its primary dimension, has to tackle not only the individual and familiar issues, but also the violence which is underlying in the daily social life, which is diffuse and seems accepted as fate.

Levels of Juvenile Crime Prevention

• Secondary Prevention : targeted to vulnerable groups

Try to avoid that an unwanted event which occurred, reproduces.

In terms of crime, it means preventing that a committed offence repeats.

It’s the reason why, secondary prevention will use more technical instruments, focusing for the governments on at risk situations such as youth who are dropping out of school by adopting social programmes.

Or for the justice system, using alternative measures, supportive and educative answers rather than deprivation of liberty or institutionalization.


• Terciary Prevention : fight against recidivism

Aim at avoiding that persons who have already committed offenses repeat them in a recurrent and chronic way and become multirecidivists.

Under the responsibility of the Justice system to find solutions which allow the offender to endorse the responsibility of his numerous acts, without being totally excluded from the community and which favor, at the end of the penal intervention, the reintegration in the community.

It is particularly important for the teenagers, whom it is necessary to avoid qualifying as “irremediable” delinquents and excluding totally from social activities.


The Implementation, Two main schools:

Social Prevention to act on individuals and their environments to avoid antisocial behaviour and stigmatisation.

Prevention according to the situation indentification of possible situation where antisocial behaviour can appear.


Prevention is a much broader concept than generally considered.

Concept of children's crime prevention is also linked to prevention of children's rights violation.

In both cases, when a law is violated by a child as well as when the rights of a child are violated, the result is equal – mechanisms of prevention have not worked.

We have faced conditions that impedes a normal development of the child – in one case it is trauma, but in the other – punishment.

Children Rights and Crime prevention?

• A broken home, or even difficulty in balancing family life and work, both of which increasingly often result in a lack of attention and an absence of constraints and control for children.

• Socio-economic marginalisation or poverty, which also makes it difficult for the minor to integrate properly into society.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52006IE0414:EN:HTML

There are many different reasons or circumstances that can prompt a minor to commit a crime:

• Academic failure: at school, this already leads to labelling or social stigmatisation, which often paves the way for antisocial behaviour or delinquency.

• Unemployment, which is at its highest among young people and often leads to situations of frustration and despair, creating a breeding ground for delinquent behaviour.


Children crime factors

• Abuse of alcohol, drugs and toxic substances which often causes the addict to commit crimes in order to support his/her addiction.

• Personality and behaviour disorders, either in association with or independently of the factor outlined in the previous point.


Children crime factors

• Early childhood and parenting support programmes applied to children under the age of 10. Programmes in this category include parenting and home visitation programmes, parent and child programmes, and media interventions which provide information to increase parenting knowledge and strengthen awareness of child maltreatment.

• Institution-based academic and social skills development programmes (pre-school/school) for students aged 3-18 years. Programmes in this category include preschool and academic enrichment programmes, programmes to provide children with social, emotional and behavioural skills and competencies, and structured interventions offered to school students before or after regular school hours.

Strategies to prevent youth violence

• Social and vocational skills training programmes applied to disadvantaged and high-risk youths. Programmes in this category include outreach programmes to prevent gang-related violence, vocational training for underprivileged youths.

• Policies and population-based community- and society-level programmes for reducing exposure to risk factors for violence. Programmes in this category include policies and programmes for reducing exposure to lethal means (e.g. guns and knives), alcohol and illicit drugs, concentrated poverty and violent computer games.

Strategies to prevent youth violence

Conclusions

SAVE MONEY, PROTECT SOCIETY, REALISE YOUTH POTENTIAL

IMPROVING YOUTH JUSTICE SYSTEMS DURING A TIMEOF ECONOMIC CRISIS

• Through the prioritization of four key factors in the design of JJ policies, EU governments can save money, ensure greater security, and foster the positive development of its young population.

• These 4 key factors are:

– Prevention– Diversion– Utilizing community sanctions– Reducing the number of children in pre- and

post-trial detention.

• Juvenile crime prevention grows from child protection policy;• A successful child crime prevention tackles all age groups of

children who can be exposed to risk situations and related behavioural risks;

• The greatest prevention should be done at the place where the child lives – from the birth to adulthood;

• When the police must be involved, the major part of prevention possibilities is already lost;

• Delinquency prevention is not a task that can be distributed among the institutions. This must be done using a multidisciplinary approach;

Conclusions:

THANK YOU!

Adélaïde Vanhove, Policy Officer, EU [email protected]

International Juvenile Justice ObservatoryRue Mercelis, nº50,1050 Brussels, Belgium

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