Year: 2012

Funding: The publication is produced within the framework of the subproject “Building a Support System to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency”. The subproject is financed by the Swiss Confederations and the Republic of Latvia in the framework of Latvian – Swiss cooperation Programme within the Enlarged European Union.

Language: English, Latvian

The research “Child-friendly Justice in Latvia: Focusing on Crime Prevention” was performed in the framework of the monitoring for the subproject “Building a Support System to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency” 2010 CH04/mac-113 under the Cooperation Programme of the Swiss Confederation and the Republic of Latvia within the Enlarged European Union.

The research focuses on the principles, methods and legal framework of juvenile delinquency prevention in Latvia, Switzerland and other European countries. The research evaluates the cooperation practice among the local municipalities and law enforcement institutions in Latvia in three pilot projects within the project “Building a Support System to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency”. During the implementation of the project from 1 January 2011 to 30 June 2012, innovative methods for the work with young people of risk groups were approbated in these pilot projects. The pilot projects were run in three regions of Latvia: Saldus, Cēsis and Madona. The research contains a full monitoring report and assessment of the new methods for the work with young people of risk groups and the inter-institutional cooperation model, as well as recommendations for further development and sustainability of these innovative methods.

The research includes the data analysis from the monitoring in the pilot project sites and statistical data on preventive measures in the Republic of Latvia in general. The research objectives are: to promote implementation of the new preventive methods in work with young people of risk groups; to develop more children-friendly justice system in Latvia. The research focuses also on widening knowledge for specialists of children's issues on the advantages of prevention methods in work with juveniles at their places of residence. During the implementation of the project, prevention guidelines are elaborated for work with the children of risk groups, as well as recommendations for various practical and organizational solutions.

The research results, conclusions and recommendations were discussed in the international conference “Prevention – way to keep children out of crime”, held on 21 March 2012 in Riga.

Full text of research  Child-friendly Justice in Latvia: Focusing on Crime Prevention (3.92 MB).

Research text in Latvian you can find here.

Project is financed by Swiss Confederation and Republic of Latvia in the framework of the Latvian – Swiss Cooperation Programme to Reduce Economic and Social Disparities within the Enlarged European Union