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The European Comparative Analysis and Transfer of Knowledge on Mental Health Resources for Young Offenders (MHYO) is an innovative and sustainable project aimed at sharing knowledge and expertise in the field of young offenders with mental health (MH) issues. Therefore, The European Commission’s Directorate General for Justice, Liberty and Security has supported the International Juvenile Justice Observatory (IJJO) since the end of 2009 in the development, follow up and the leading action of the present project for analysis and comparison between European organisations that share an interest in the current situation of child and young offenders with mental health problems in Europe. European Union Member States have to face similar issues when dealing with health, social, and justice institutions. The project aims to bring about innovative mechanisms for implementing a change and convergence, which foster all young offenders’ institutions and judicial services across the EU. There is a specific need for local, regional and national mental health institutions within the juvenile justice system in terms of MH resources for young offenders, as well as, mutual cooperation between bodies and agents with common responsibilities.
The IJJO participated and monitored the European project European Dimensions in Juvenile Delinquency. The objective of this programme, financed by the Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security of the European Commission, was to promote efficient indications to define programmes for the prevention of juvenile delinquency by taking into consideration the experiences and results that were obtained in five European countries. In each country and also on a global level, recent phenomena in juvenile delinquency, like cyber-crime and E-bullying, the influence of drug use on crime, youth gangs and finally the exploitation of minor immigrants in crime, were analysed and studied. These topics were also developed during the International Congress on Recent 'Phenomena in Juvenile Delinquency: new penal forms' organised by the IJJO in 2007.
The project Drejc, Drug Related Juvenile Crime JLS/2007/ISEC 500 lasted 2 years, among the specific objective to be achieved, the analysis of drug related juvenile crime aimed to individuate and define: the significant variables for the creation of European Recommendation arising from reflections based on the praxis proposed by partners; the common and shared indicators on legal and operating models of intervention towards the minor; the prevailing crimes where minors are involved through analysis of the criminal activities areas and the dimension of the juvenile involvement; the legal and operating interventions paths of prevention and rehabilitation. The different specific responses depended of course also on the legal framework within which the project’s activities and intervention have been implemented.
As the European agenda entails, the issue of radicalisation and countering violent extremism has increasingly become a priority for every European Union (EU) Member State. The radicalisation of EU citizens, which may go as far as their departure to fight for terrorist and extreme violent organisations such as IS, poses a genuine security threat to the European Union, its member states and neighbouring countries. The project “The prevention of juvenile radicalisation: Promoting the use of alternatives to detention through judicial training” will address the issue of juvenile radicalisation in detention, within and outside the prison system, through the sharing of knowledge and good practices between judicial professionals and actors of several EU Member States (EUMS), especially those drawing on cross-sector collaboration.
As the European agenda and recent events demonstrate, the issues of radicalisation and violent extremism, which may be conducive to terrorism, have increasingly become a priority for most Member States. However, in the midst of the rush to enact counter-terrorism legislation at national and European levels, little if any consideration has been given to the fact that some of the suspected or alleged ‘terrorists’ could be children or underage juveniles. In consequence, the project “Strengthening Juvenile Justice Systems in the counter-terrorism context: Capacity-building and peer-learning among stakeholders” (JUST-2015-JCOO-AG-TERR) aims to address juveniles’ unique situation and their protection under international and European law in the context of counter-terrorism. The project launches in October 2016 and is expected to end approximately in September 2018.