IJJO Interviews

Within the following interview Ms. Marianne Moore, Expert Justice Studio Ltd from United Kingdom, presents one of the main outputs of the MHYO Project ‘European Comparative Analysis and Knowledge Transfer of Mental Health Resources for Young Offenders’ , Volume II: Manual for improving professional knowledge, skills and developing advocacy programme undertaken and coordinated by the IIJO and supported by European Commission. In this context, she gives an overview of the adequate training that professionals who work with mentally ill juvenile offenders should receive in order to improve professional knowledge and skills as well as she suggests the most important recommendations that states should implement in order to improve the situation of young offenders suffering from mental health problems.

In this interview, Ms. Marin, the Head of Department for Protection of the Rights of the Child, gives an overview of the current state of the youth justice system in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Through her expertise and knowledge of Children Rights, she lists the recommendations of the recently created Institution of Human Rights Ombudsmen of BH for improving that system.

In this interview, the Director of Psychology department and the Law-Psychiatry Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School talk about the program he manages in the USA providing technical assistance to juvenile justice systems. Dr. Grisso underlines, that there is very little research evidence that screening and assessment lead to successful and effective treatment. He also presents his new area of study aiming at finding ways to improve mental health screening in juvenile justice for young people with diverse cultural backgrounds.

In this interview, the National Director of National Youth Service (SENAME) explains how the 2006 law reform on juveniles’ penal responsibility (RPA) has affected the juvenile justice system in Chile, transforming it into one that recognizes and safeguards juveniles’ rights, via differential treatment from adult offenders and a pronounced focus on socio-educational intervention, empowerment and social reintegration.

In this interview, the Regional Director of the South Caucasus Regional Office, on one hand states and analyses the current situation and the evolution of the juvenile justice in Georgia. On the other hand, the Regional Director advocates the legislative and penal reforms needed to avoid liberty’s privation measures and underlined the essential action leaded by PRI in Georgia, through lobbying nearby the government during the reform’s period in 1999 and collaboration with local NGO.