MAJMIN Handbook - EN

1: INTRODUCTION

As we entered the new millennium, academics, politicians, the media and the public are in
agreement that the number of youths committing violent offenses is increasing rapidly in
Europe. 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
socializing influences (Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights). The EU 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. In the last two
decades, several Council of Europe member states have developed policies and plans based
on retribution and behavior-focused programs, rather than on prevention of youth offending
and addressing the welfare needs of young offenders.
One of the main purposes of the youth systems is to rehabilitate – not punish – the young
offenders. Therefore, young people appear at hearings with specially trained officers who
determine guilt and innocence and prescribe rehabilitation. Since the 1970s, certain
developments took place in the United States and Europe: i.e. juvenile courts often release
the identity of juveniles involved in delinquency proceedings; only juvenile records involving
minor offenses are destroyed; many nations have begun prosecuting and punishing young
offenders as adults, particularly for serious crimes such as murder, rape, armed robbery, or
kidnapping (Deliberating in Democracy, 2005).

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, making crime more attractive for them. (EU Commissioner for Human
Rights, 2008). Previous studies, especially in the US have shown that there are also different
rates of juvenile delinquency according to race and ethnicity (Hawckins et al., 2000), and
criminologists have tended to attribute high rates of crime to economic disadvantaged MO’s
(Tonry, 1996).

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