6th IJJO International Conference

Depriving children of their liberty may lead to a long-term and costly psychological and physical damage, since overcrowding, violence and poor detention conditions threaten their development, health and well-being.

This is why the International Juvenile Justice Observatory advocates the design of legislation, public policies and programmes focused on the best interest of the minor that respond to their needs and violence risk factors. Moreover, these policies should be designed based on empirical and scientific evidence, using theoretical models whose impact has been assessed and shown to work in terms of social integration and reduced recidivism.

It is in this context that the International Juvenile Justice Observatory organizes its 6th International Conference: "Making Deprivation of Children’s Liberty a Last Resort: Towards evidence-based policies on alternatives", which will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on December 3 and 4, 2014.

Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the implementation of international and regional initiatives in this field led by the UN, the European institutions and civil society, the Conference will address the need to improve the effectiveness of the policies and programmes aimed at breaking cycles of violence in its different stages, with the priority given to alternatives to detention, mediation and conflict resolution in a social, family and community environment.

Authors are asked to send their proposals for presentations on any of the topics below including abstract and short biography to brussels2014@oijj.org before October 1th 2014. They are also aked to complete following form on http://www.oijj.org/en/conferencia-internacional-oijj/2014-bruselas/callforpapers

Texts in English, French and Spanish are welcome.

Topics:
I. Reforming Juvenile justice systems: more preventive, less punitive?
• Juvenile Crime prevention: Lessons learned with the EU’s ‘Keeping Youth Away from Crime’ Project
• Educating children about their rights: Lessons learned with the EU’s ‘Children's Legal Education-Adapted Resources’ Project
• Prevention and Diversion mechanisms: validated experiences across the globe: Presentation of evidence-based practices
II. Creating tailored juvenile justice systems: Development of innovative and validated alternative practices
• Access to justice and specialisation of judicial and legal professionals .
• Fostering restorative and mediation-based practices by empowering the community.
• The relevance of promoting assessment and evaluation projects aiming to measure the impact and the effectiveness of interventions.

For more info visit:
http://www.oijj.org/en/conferencia-internacional-oijj/2014-bruselas