early prevention of youth crime in latvia: multi-disciplinary cooperation and social inclusion
TRANSCRIPT
Early Prevention of Youth Crime in
Latvia: Multi-Disciplinary
Cooperation and Social Inclusion
Sanita Sīle | Policy Analyst
May 6-7, 2015
Tirana
Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS
PROVIDUS provides independent expertise in the following areas:
• good governance (including public integrity and prevention of corruption, openness of information, responsibility of courts, social entrepreneurship, civic participation, energy policy);
• inclusive political process (including integration policies and diversity management);
• criminal justice (including penal policy and alternatives for pre-trial detention, juvenile justice, support for victims’ rights).
LATVIA
LATVIA
Territory: 64 589 km2
Inhabitants:~ 2 160 000
ALBANIATerritory: 28 748 km2
Inhabitants:~ 3 000 000
Legal framework
Protection of the Rights of the Child Law
Latvian Administrative Violations Code
Criminal Law
Law on Compulsory Measures of Correctional Nature
Number of convicted minors
2010 - 2014
Statistics: Judicial Information System
Number of convicted minors
2010 – 2014 (trend)
Early prevention
Early prevention refers to a series of actions which aim at creating an environment that deters children from persistent disruptive behavior and early-onset delinquency. By involving the entire
society and implementing specific actions (lawful and socially useful), we can ensure that the
personal development of children is as harmonious and as free from crime as possible.
International Juvenile Justice Observatory
Building a Support System to Prevent Juvenile
Delinquency I
Duration: 01.01.2011.-30.06.2012.
The main achievements:
Development of Inter-Institutional Cooperation Model;
Individual risks and needs assessment for children;
Establishment of Regional Work Groups;
Catalogue of Activities for each municipality.
Building a Support System to Prevent Juvenile
Delinquency II
240 children were involved in activities that took place in
three pilot places – Madona, Cēsis and Saldus
municipalities.
Building a Support System to Prevent Juvenile
Delinquency III
Building a Support System to Prevent Juvenile
Delinquency IV
http://providus.lv/article/child-friendly-justice-in-latvia-focusing-on-crime-prevention
Keeping Youth Away from Crime:
Searching for Best European Practices I
Duration: 07.01.2013.-06.01.2015.
Keeping Youth Away from Crime:
Searching for Best European Practices II
Cooperation on Inter-Institutional level Inter–Institutional Cooperation Groups are established
by a decision of City Council.
Activities for both children and theirparents/relatives.
Risks and needs assessment of children andfamilies.
Catalogue of Activities.
Keeping Youth Away from Crime:
Searching for Best European Practices III
Most common risks for children (I):
Conflicting relations both at home and in the school environment;
Various types of domestic violence;
School truancy;
Permanent under achievement;
Vagrancy, excessive leaderism;
Violence against peers or violence from peers;
Parents in the divorce process, as the result of which parents “fight with each other”, involving children;
Keeping Youth Away from Crime:
Searching for Best European Practices III
Most common risks for children (II):
Violent emotional attitude towards the child in the family;
Being disregarded;
Insufficient supervision;
Feeling of not being needed to anyone and not belonging anywhere;
Too many duties, too much responsibility for the child (from parents, teachers) unsuitable for the child’s age;
Learning difficulties;
Addictive substance abuse;
Participation in gangs/groupings or “wrong” friends.
Keeping Youth Away from Crime:
Searching for Best European Practices IV
Most common risks for parents (I):
Lack of parenting skills and knowledge;
Conflicting relations in the family;
Alcohol dependency;
Unemployment;
Mental health problems;
Poverty;
Children are raised by one of the parents or grandparents
because parents have left to work abroad;
Keeping Youth Away from Crime:
Searching for Best European Practices IV
Most common risks for parents (II):
Domestic violence;
Antisocial behaviour;
Inappropriate domicile;
“Parents do not have place in the house for the child” or the
child has no value in the family because parents are occupied
with their problems;
Excessive leaderism or immoderate, unjustified demands
against others;
Apathetic relations in the family.
Keeping Youth Away from Crime:
Searching for Best European Practices V
http://providus.lv/en/article/keeping-youth-away-from-crime-searching-for-best-
european-practices
Keeping Youth Away from Crime:
Searching for Best European Practices VI
Educational film
http://providus.lv/en/article/keeping-youth-away-from-crime-searching-for-best-
european-practices
Reducing youth at risk numbers:
modeling early childhood intervention
approaches I
Duration: 01.11.2013.-31.10.2015.
• Promotion of change in philosophy when working with children
and families;
• Formation of children friendly and inclusive society and created
multi-disciplinary cooperation model;
• Methodology for identification and prevention of early risks of
children’s antisocial behavior;
• Failure prevention tool for improving the quality of work;
• Monitoring report.
Reducing youth at risk numbers:
modeling early childhood intervention
approaches II
Activities are implemented in three pilot places: Saldus, Kuldīga and Cēsis.
In each pilot place, one pre-school group and one primaryschool class is involved, including both the children and
their parent.
Reducing youth at risk numbers:
modeling early childhood intervention
approaches III
Main differences from other initiatives:
• Early “early intervention”: the age of children involvedin the project (preschool and primary school educationalinstitutions);
• Activities are implemented by teachers at preschoolsand primary schools – they are the ones noticing the firstsigns of anti-social behavior and should know the bestways how to react/help.
• Cooperation on all levels around a child (within family,within the school/pre-school, within municipalinstitutions).
Conclusions
Inter-institutional cooperation among institutions and all
stakeholders;
Individual risks and needs assessment;
Work with children AND parents;
Earliness of intervention;
Formal recognition of the initiatives.
Conclusions
Inter-institutional cooperation among institutions and all
stakeholders;
Individual risks and needs assessment;
Work with children AND parents;
Earliness of intervention;
Formal recognition of the initiatives.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION!
Any questions?
Sanita SīleCentre for Public Policy PROVIDUS
www.providus.lv