DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT                                                                                                            

Currently, there is great ambition at a European level to ensure the rights of persons suspected or accused of crime. This fact has led the European Union to develop different legislative instruments, such as the Directive 2010/64/EU on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings and the Directive 2012/13/EU on the right to information in criminal proceedings.  Also, the Directive (EU) 2016/800 of the European Parliament and of the Council on procedural safeguards for children suspected or accused in criminal proceedings, which indicates that the EU’s efforts have also been aimed at enhancing the Juvenile Justice Systems. However, several studies reveal that it is necessary to develop new tools in order to ensure the correct implementation of these Directives.

With this project, our intention is to improve minors in conflict with the law, as well as their parents/holders of parental responsibility, understanding of minors' rights and relevant information in criminal proceedings through the use of a language adapted to their stage of development. Another key element that will be worked on during the project is the facilitation of the right of translation and interpretation as the CRC Committee states that a minor should be translated in different foreign languages.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

• Contributing to the correct implementation of Directives 2012/13/EU (on the right of information in criminal proceedings), 2010/64/EU (on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings) and (EU) 2016/800 (on procedural safeguards for children suspected or accused in criminal proceedings).

• Promoting child friendly justice by improving the minors in conflict with the law, as well as their parents/holders of parental responsibility, understanding of minors' rights and relevant information in criminal proceedings, through the use of a language adapted to their stage of development.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

• Contributing to more child-friendly European juvenile justice systems.

• Promoting the effective participation of minors in conflict with the law and their parents/holders of parental responsibility in criminal proceedings.

• Improving the knowledge of professionals working with minors in the juvenile justice system regarding minors’ rights.

• Facilitating a translation to young offenders and parents/holders of parental responsibility of their rights and relevant information in court proceedings in their own language if they do not know the language of the country where they are being prosecuted.

ACTIVITIES

• Carrying out the study of needs assessment.
• Creation of 6 information leaflets (3 for minors and 3 for parents/holders of parental responsibility) using a child-friendly style of communication and plain language.
• Translation of the information leaflets into the 24 official languages of the EU and 3 non-community languages more present within the European Juvenile Justice Systems.
• Piloting the impact of information leaflets.
• Dissemination of information leaflets.

TYPE AND NUMBER OF PERSONS BENEFITING FROM THE PROJECT

• Professionals of Juvenile Justice Systems: justice practitioners, policy makers, police authorities, juvenile detention centres’ staff, etc. (300)
• Members of the European Council for Juvenile Justice and stakeholders (100)
• Minors and their Parents/holders of parental responsibility (4,000)

EXPECTED RESULTS

• Improvement of the correct implementation of Directive 2012/13/EU, Directive 2010/64/EU and Directive (EU) 2016/800.
• Improvement of the understanding of the information given to minors and their parents/holders of parental responsibility in criminal proceedings.
• Contribution to more child-friendly European Juvenile Justice Systems.
• Improvements in the knowledge of professionals of the juvenile justice system.

TYPE AND NUMBER OF OUTPUTS TO BE PRODUCED

• Tools to assess the needs and the impact of information leaflets (3)
• Meeting with competent public administrations in juvenile justice (30)
• Results reports of the study of needs assessment (6)
• 6 Information leaflets in 27 languages (162)
• Effectiveness and impact report of information leaflets (1)
• Website sections (6), newsletters (4), work plan of dissemination (5)

PARTNERSHIP AND THE CORE PROJECT TEAM

CO-ORDINATOR OF THE PROJECT (APPLICANT):

Fundación Diagrama Intervención Psicosocial (Spain):

PARTNERS (CO-BENEFICIARIES):

Partner 1: International Juvenile Justice Observatory (Belgium).

Partner 2: Istituto Don Calabria (Italy).

Partner 3: Hope for Children (Cyprus).

Partner 4: Social Activities and Practices Institute (SAPI) (Bulgaria).

Partner 5: NGO MOST (Croatia)

ASSOCIATE PARTNERS:

Associate Partner 1: Dirección General de Familia y Políticas Sociales de la Consejería de Familia e Igualdad de Oportunidades de la Región de Murcia (Spain).

Associate Partner 2: Juvenile Justice Centre for Triveneto, Department for juvenile justice and communities, Ministry of Justice (Italy).

Associate Partner 3: Parliamentary Committee for Law (Cyprus).

Associate Partner 4: Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Bulgaria (Bulgaria).

Associate Partner 5: Centre for Social Welfare; District Attorney Office, Juvenile Court and Residential Home for youth with behavioural problems. (Croatia)

TIMELINE BY WORKPACKAGES

WS0. Management and coordination of the project (Months 1-24)

1. Kick-off Meeting in Belgium (M 1)
2. Financial management (M 1-24)
3. Overall coordination (M 1-24)
4. Steering group meetings (M 1, 9, 15, 24)
5. Evaluation (M 1-24)

WS1. Assessment of the needs of minors in conflict with the law (Months 1-9)

1. Designing the questionnaire of needs assessment of minors (M 2-3)
2. Preparing the interview guide for focus groups (M 2-3)
3. Meetings with Public Administration (M 3)
4. Carrying out the study of needs assessment of minors (M 3-6)
5. European comparative analysis of need assessment of minors (M 7-9)

WS2. Creating information leaflets and to assess its effectiveness (Months 10-21)

1. Creation of 6 information leaflets (M 10-12)
2. Revision and translation of information leaflets by European Council for Juvenile Justice (M 13-15)
3. Preparation of the assessment questionnaire on the impact/effectiveness of information leaflets (M 16)
4. Carrying out a pilot study (M 18-20)
5. Analysis of the effectiveness and impact of information leaflets (M 21)

WS3. Project dissemination (Months 1-24)

1. Creating website sections and dissemination of information (M 1-24)
2. Sending newsletters (M 1-24)
3. Dissemination of information leaflets (M 22-23)
4. Final conference (M 24)

DESCRIPTION OF WORKPACKAGES AND ACTIVITIES

Workpackage 1. Assessment of the needs of minors in conflict with the law.

Objectives of this workpackage

• Analysis of needs of minors in conflict with the law regarding their knowledge about their rights and relevant information in court proceedings.
• Assess the correct implementation of Directives 2012/13/EU and 2010/64/EU concerning the right to information, interpretation and translation in juvenile justice contexts, and Directive 2016/800/EU on procedural safeguards for children who are suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings.

Activities

1. Steering group meeting in Belgium: In month 1 there will be a steering group meeting to present the project, clarify the objectives of each phase, resolve doubts and prepare for the study of the needs of the children (Questionnaire of needs assessment and Interview guide for focus groups).
2. Designing the questionnaire of needs assessment of minors: The aim of the questionnaire is to gauge their knowledge about their rights and relevant information in court proceedings.
3. Preparing the interview guide for focus groups: Developing interview guides for focus groups, directed to study the correct application of the Directives (2012/13/EU, 2010/64/EU, 2016/800/EU) in each country.
4. Meetings with Public Administration: All members, except the partner 1, shall hold three meetings with Public Administrations to request them to collaborate in the study (facilitating sample, appropriate authorization, etc.). 
5. Carrying out the study of needs assessment of minors: A study will be carried out to assess the knowledge of minors about their rights, as well as to analyze the correct application of the Directives (2012/13/EU, 2010/64/EU, (EU) 2016/800). A mixed research methodology will be implemented: quantitative (managing questionnaires of needs assessment) and qualitative (focus groups).
6. European comparative analysis of need assessment of minors: Partner 1 will make a comparative study of the needs of minors on the base of the results obtained by the other partners and coordinator in their countries.
7. Steering group meeting in Italy: In month 9, there will be a steering group meeting in Italy for partners to present the results of the studies and to define and concretise the contents of information leaflets.

Workpackage 2. Creating information leaflets and to assess its effectiveness.

Objectives of this workpackage

• Elaboration of 3 information leaflets for minors in conflict with the law and 3 information leaflets for parents/holders of parental responsibility, in order to provide clear information throughout criminal proceedings on the rights of minors, using a child-friendly perspective and plain language communication.
• Carrying out a pilot study to assess the effectiveness and impact of the information leaflets.

Activities

1. Creation of 6 information leaflets: After assessing the needs presented by minors regarding their knowledge of the legal proceedings and their rights, 3 information leaflets for minors in conflict with the law will be developed. These leaflets will reflect minors’ rights and relevant information throughout the criminal proceedings, being written in a language adapted to the developmental stage of minors. This material will be different depending on the stage of judicial proceedings: police arrest, trial or detention. Thus, they are intended to allow children to be aware of their own judicial proceedings and rights. Similarly, 3 information leaflets for parents/holders of parental responsibility will be developed to provide clear information and plain language.
2. Revision and translation of information leaflets by European Council for Juvenile Justice: following the right to interpretation and translation within framework of the child-friendly justice, such information leaflets will be translated into the 24 official languages of the European Union and the 3 main non-community languages within the European Systems of Juvenile Justice.
3. Steering group meeting in Bulgaria: In month 15, there will be a steering group meeting in Bulgaria in order to design the pilot study and draft the assessment questionnaire on the impact/effectiveness of the information leaflets.
4. Preparation of the assessment questionnaire on the impact/effectiveness of the information leaflets: An evaluation questionnaire will be prepared to assess the effectiveness and impact of the informational leaflets.
5. Carrying out a pilot study: All partners (except partner 1), will develop a pilot study in order to analyze the impact and effectiveness of information leaflets in each country. A quasi-experimental methodology will be applied, using "pre-post testing" and dividing the sample into experimental groups (treatment groups) and control groups (no-treatment groups). In addition, the study will be made with two independent target populations, minors in conflict with the law and minors outside the juvenile justice system, to control the learning effect by going through the justice system.
6. Analysis of the effectiveness and impact of information leaflets: Once the evaluation questionnaires have been administered in each country and the data has been entered into the database, an analysis will be conducted to determine the effectiveness and the impact of prospectuses. Data analysis will be performed with the IBM SPSS software.

Workpackage 3. Project Dissemination.

Objectives

• Disseminating the outputs and project results.
• Contributing to the correct implementation of Directives 2012/13/EU (on the right of information in criminal proceedings), 2010/64/EU (on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings) and Directive (EU) 2016/800 (on procedural safeguards for children suspected or accused in criminal proceedings).

Activities

1. Creating websites and dissemination of information: All partners will create a specific website including information about the project such as basic information (objectives, results, etc.), reports, news, and information leaflets.
2. Sending newsletters: The relevant project information will be disseminated through the IJJO electronic Newsletter.
3. Dissemination of information leaflets: The leaflets will be distributed between the authorities and organizations involved with minors in conflict with the law (justice practitioners, policy makers, custodial centres’ staff, law enforcement authorities, etc.). The coordinator and partners (except partner 1) will hold meetings with Public Administrations and entities working directly with minors in conflict with the law in order to achieve this objective. Previously, all partners have developed a work plan for dissemination. Each partner (except partner 1) will have 100 pen-drives and 6,000 printed information leaflets to distribute.
4. Steering group meeting in Spain: In month 24, taking advantage of the final conference, there will also be a steering group meeting held to revise the work done, to make the final evaluation and clarify possible administrative or technical doubts.
5. Final conference: In month 24 there will be a final conference to present to the stakeholders (organisations, justice practitioners, experts, law enforcement authorities) the results of the project. First, experts will speak about their understanding of the situation and then the project results will be presented. Each partner will provide 1 expert.