Early Prevention of Youth Crime in Latvia: Multi-Disciplinary
Cooperation and Social Inclusion Sanita Sle | Policy Analyst May
6-7, 2015 Tirana
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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).
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LATVIA
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Territory: 64 589 km 2 Inhabitants: 2 160 000 ALBANIA
Territory: 28 748 km 2 Inhabitants: 3 000 000
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Legal framework Protection of the Rights of the Child Law
Latvian Administrative Violations Code Criminal Law Law on
Compulsory Measures of Correctional Nature
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Number of convicted minors 2010 - 2014 Statistics: Judicial
Information System
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Number of convicted minors 2010 2014 (trend)
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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
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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.
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Building a Support System to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency II
240 children were involved in activities that took place in three
pilot places Madona, Csis and Saldus municipalities.
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Building a Support System to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency
III
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Building a Support System to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency IV
http://providus.lv/article/child-friendly-justice-in-latvia-
focusing-on-crime-prevention
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Keeping Youth Away from Crime: Searching for Best European
Practices I Duration: 07.01.2013.-06.01.2015.
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Keeping Youth Away from Crime: Searching for Best European
Practices II Cooperation on Inter-Institutional level
InterInstitutional Cooperation Groups are established by a decision
of City Council. Activities for both children and their
parents/relatives. Risks and needs assessment of children and
families. Catalogue of Activities.
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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;
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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 childs age; Learning difficulties; Addictive substance
abuse; Participation in gangs/groupings or wrong friends.
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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;
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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.
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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
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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
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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 childrens
antisocial behavior; Failure prevention tool for improving the
quality of work; Monitoring report.
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Reducing youth at risk numbers: modeling early childhood
intervention approaches II Activities are implemented in three
pilot places: Saldus, Kuldga and Csis. In each pilot place, one
pre-school group and one primary school class is involved,
including both the children and their parent.
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Reducing youth at risk numbers: modeling early childhood
intervention approaches III Main differences from other
initiatives: Early early intervention: the age of children involved
in the project (preschool and primary school educational
institutions); Activities are implemented by teachers at preschools
and primary schools they are the ones noticing the first signs of
anti-social behavior and should know the best ways how to
react/help. Cooperation on all levels around a child (within
family, within the school/pre-school, within municipal
institutions).
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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.
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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.
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! Any questions?
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Sanita Sle Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS www.providus.lv
[email protected]