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Resolution 1796 (2011)
Young offenders: social measures, education and rehabilitation
1. Crime by young people can blight
communities and make everyone feel unsafe. However, socially excluded
young people and young offenders remain children first, offenders
and/or antisocial individuals second, and thus cannot be treated
in the same way as offending adults.
2. Young offenders often come from amongst the most disadvantaged
groups in society. Many have histories of unemployment, educational
disadvantage and/or disaffection, substance abuse, mental health problems,
and disrupted and/or abusive family backgrounds. Systematic processes
of social exclusion in terms of lack of formal education and training
and ensuing low earning capacity often create barriers, preventing young
people from entering the legal economy, which makes crime more attractive
for them, including in financial terms.
3. The Parliamentary Assembly believes that it is important to
find the right balance between protecting the community – and other
young people – from crime, while making the best possible use of
the fact that a child/young person, as a developing, learning human
being, is still open to positive socialising influences. Whilst
it is imperative that young persons are taught to take responsibility
for their actions, young offenders are children first and foremost
and must be protected by all the accepted human rights standards
for children. Retribution and punishment should thus take second
place to social measures for, and education and rehabilitation of, young
offenders. Deprivation of liberty should be a last resort, as posited
in the Committee of Ministers European Rules for juvenile offenders
subject to sanctions or measures (Recommendation CM/Rec(2008)11).
4. The Assembly shares the concern of the Council of Europe Commissioner
for Human Rights about a disturbing trend in Europe today to lock
up more children at an earlier age. Furthermore, in the last two decades,
several Council of Europe member states have developed policies
and plans based on retribution and behaviour-focused programmes,
rather than on prevention of youth offending and addressing the
welfare needs of young offenders.
5. The Assembly believes that this is in contrast to the proven
cost-effectiveness of welfare- and community-based measures. Evidence
strongly suggests that welfare-based responses lead to greater social inclusion,
greater participation and greater commitment to education and socially
acceptable behaviour. These responses are able to tackle different
levels of social exclusion, offending and disaffection and incorporate mechanisms
to ensure children’s best interests and to protect their rights.
Furthermore, inter-agency and multi-professional work is key both
to the prevention of crime and to the rehabilitation of educationally
disaffected young people and young offenders.
6. The Assembly therefore invites member states to:
6.1. prevent juvenile delinquency
in the first place by:
6.1.1. providing family support services
in disadvantaged areas with high crime and unemployment rates and
low educational attainment;
6.1.2. encouraging young people at risk to continue beyond the
minimum leaving age in education/training, possibly with enhanced
benefits;
6.1.3. designing specific programmes that provide help for young
people and teachers in schools, based on social work and psychological
and mental health support, with specialist teachers trained not
just in academic development, but also in citizenship and relationship
skills, and in dealing with difficult behaviour;
6.1.4. promoting mentoring, involving volunteers, appropriate
peers and part-time workers who have credibility with young people
in a specific area, ethnic group or faith group, and who can provide
emotional support and act as role models, to help increase personality
development, social inclusion and feelings of connection within
their own community and the wider community, while avoiding pushing
young people into conformity with traditional (gender or cultural) stereotypes;
6.1.5. promoting community development and youth work with ethnic
minorities and/or faith groups in identified geographical areas;
6.1.6. providing alcohol and drug abuse counselling services;
6.2. educate young offenders to avoid reoffending by:
6.2.1. fully implementing the European Rules for juvenile offenders
subject to sanctions or measures, which put the emphasis on community
sanctions and measures while safeguarding children’s and young people’s
rights in all settings (from court proceedings to the deprivation
of liberty);
6.2.2. ensuring that the age of criminal responsibility is not
set too low and that sanctions and measures involving the deprivation
of liberty are only applied to children and young offenders as a
last resort;
6.2.3. developing restorative justice and mediation programmes
which make victims feel included;
6.2.4. working with police, prosecutors and youth judges to promote
cases being treated out of court as well as welfare-based approaches.