JUST CLOSER contributes to more child-friendly justice practices in the Netherlands, Italy, Greece by strengthening the respect for the procedural rights of children and youth in contact with the justice system.
The project activities aimed to:
- promote the participation of children and youth with experience in the justice system in matters that affect them;
- amplify their voices and recommendations to justice professionals and policy-makers;
- facilitate peer support and learning;
- strengthen the competences of professionals working with and for juveniles.
“It takes active effort from me, in the way I ask questions, to do so in such a way that I reassure youth sufficiently and I really start listening.”
Disa Jironet – Public Prosecutor, Just Closer podcast (available here, in Dutch )
“A neighbourhood police officer walked into my cell and asked: ‘How are you? How come you are in here?’. We knew each other from the neighbourhood. The contact was not always bad.”
YOPE Expert, Just Closer podcast (available here, in Dutch)
ACTIVITIES
As part of Just Closer, YOPE implemented the following activities:
Needs assessment
In collaboration with YOPE Experts, YOPE facilitated sessions with young people inside juvenile correctional facilities to explore youngsters’ experience with the justice system – from the moment they are arrested to their court proceedings and, including their stay in detention. In total, 15 youngsters contributed to the activity, all male. By contrasting these lived experiences with the principles of Child-Friendly Justice developed by the Council of Europe, the team identified opportunities for improvement in policies and practices in youth justice so that young people suspected or accused of a crime are treated with dignity, respect, care and fairness. The outcome report highlights what needs to be done to ensure that justice is accessible, understandable and reliable – from youth’s perspectives.
Read more about the Needs Assessment here.
Peer support programme
YOPE Experts returned to juvenile correctional facilities to deliver workshops to young people still detained. Together, they look back on key moments of their journey through the system and also explore their experiences leaving detetion. They do not lecture their peers, but engage in conversation with each other under the guidance of YOPE coordinators. The YOPE Experts can share success stories, but just as well the difficult things and disappointments they experienced outside. Reflecting on their beliefs and learnings in hindsight, they can offer young people deprived of liberty support and perspective on their lives forward. In total, 40 young people attended the peer support sessions.
Podcast
In this podcast series, hosts Lamyn Belgaroui and Elizabeth Vrieling talk to YOPE Experts and and professionals working in the youth justice and care system in the Netherlands. In each episode, the hosts and guests explore how young young people have experienced their journey through the legal process. What do young people need to feel heard and be able to actively participate in their process? And what do professionals need to ensure a child-friendly legal process in their work?
By: Young Perspectives (YOPE)
Hosts & editors: Lamyn Belgaroui & Elizabeth Vrieling
Recording, mixing & music production: Tobias Ponsioen
Listen to Just Closer Podcast (in Dutch):
Training of professionals
YOPE training provides a safe space where young people by experience and forensic professionals exchange perspectives. YOPE’s young experts are personally and intensively guided to tell their stories. Creative forms of conversation invite young people and professionals to, as one former participant put it, ‘take off your coat’ and step out of old and familiar roles for a while. As part of the training sessions, YOPE Experts also explored the principles of child-friendly justice and how professionals can strengthen these principles in their daily work practices.
In total, YOPE facilitated seven training sessions as part of Just CLoser, two for prosecutors and five for probation officers; 69 professionals were trained.
Listen to different perspectives on the YOPE training for professionals:
Iris Boekee is a trainer and on-the-job coach for the Experts program. She talks about how YOPE Experts take professionals on a journey of a lifetime – beyond their conflict with the law.
Gwen is a criminal lawyer in Amsterdam and talks about how professionals can learn from young people’s experiences.
Disa is Public Prosecutor in Amsterdam and here she talks about the impact of YOPE training on professionals.
Guide of Good Practices and Letter of Rights
The Just Closer partnership also developed a number of resources to support justice professionals, policy-makers and civil society organisations working on youth justice.
The Guide of Good Practices is conceived as a practical tool for professionals who come in contact with children and youth suspected or accused of a crime. The guide offers an explanation of basic standards that each child and young person should enjoy when entering into contact with justice. Stemming from the analysis of the relevant legislation (at the international, EU and national level), as well as research on the current implementation in practice of the Directive 2016/800/EU in six Member States, the Guide highlights the most important areas in which the respect of the Directive’s standards needs a particular attention. Download the Guides (English and Dutch) below.
Accompanying the Guide of Good Practices, a Letter of Rights – ‘Know your Rights!” has been developed for young people in order to first inform them about their rights when in contact with criminal justice. The Letter was formulated with input from boys and girls, both in terms of content and language, as well as graphics. It is not intended to be an exhaustive resource, but a child-friendly introduction to their rights.
In order for the Letter to achieve its purpose, professionals and practitioners should ensure that it is possibly accompanied by an explanatory discussion and assistance in assimilating and understanding its contents.
Just Closer was implemented between July 2022 and June 2024 in partnership with Defence for Children Italy, University of Amsterdam, University of Genoa, University of Valencia, and the Ministry of Justice of Greece. The project was co-funded by the European Commission.
