Experience in the resocialisation of minors in the Netherlands

Within the framework of the project ‘Resocialisation of juvenile offenders in Ukraine: development and implementation of the methodology of social-psychological work’, from 29 September to 4 October 2008, a study visit was conducted for members of the working group to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The project is being implemented by the All-Ukrainian ‘Defence of Children’s Rights’ Foundation, together with the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences and the Ministry for Family, Youth and Sports, with financial support from the MATRA programmes of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
As part of the study visit, representatives of the working group from the Ukrainian side had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the system of penitentiary and post-penitentiary work with minors who have found themselves in conflict with the law. The main emphasis was placed on studying the experience of working with the resocialisation of such minors.
The main achievement of the juvenile justice system in the Netherlands, according to practitioners, lies in establishing an effective and timely exchange of information between all its stakeholders. In particular, an electronic form has been developed, which is filled out by an employee of the police station to which the minor has been brought. All services have access to this form and enter the information they have regarding the personal characteristics of the child and the peculiarities of their micro-social environment. In a specially created institution, a ‘House of Protection’, an individual action plan regarding each minor is discussed, as well as the situation itself, which requires the intervention of specific specialists.
During visits to closed-type educational institutions for juvenile offenders, the visit participants inspected the premises in which the convicts are held and familiarised themselves with the methodology of psychological-pedagogical influence for the purpose of correcting the minor’s behaviour.
Besides this, participants were offered the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the practices of a home for homeless children in Utrecht. These institutions provide proper living conditions for the child and are funded from the local budget. Although the cost of maintaining children in such institutions is quite high, the government anticipates that their closure would lead to an increase in the number of crimes committed by minors. (For comparison, the cost of maintaining a minor in a closed-type special educational institution in the Kingdom of the Netherlands ranges from 350 to 650 euros per day).
The main burden regarding the provision and organisation of an effective process of resocialisation for minors lies with probation service workers, who in the majority of cases have a social worker’s education. An important role in this process is played by specialists who provide additional services (psychiatric, psychological, social, pedagogical, etc.).
The experience gained during the study visit is planned to be implemented in the activities of the bodies and institutions within whose sphere of activity a juvenile offender falls. It remains clear and logical that the transformation processes must take into account both macro-processes and the specificities of the functioning of each separate structure as a component of juvenile justice.