UNICEF and CRCA New Research on Juvenile Justice and Juvenile Delinquency

03 October 2006

UNICEF Office in Albania and the Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania - CRCA have started to work together on a major research project related to juvenile justice and juvenile delinquency in the country.

Albania does not have a system of administration of juvenile justice in place. The number of juveniles in conflict with law is increasing every year and the system is not able to cope with such an increase. Juveniles often face an unfriendly justice system. Although legislation and policy during years has improved, Albania lacks appropriate legislation and policies for the administration of juvenile justice. Most of the juveniles are sentenced with imprisoning, while the application of alternatives to detention is limited.

�RESPECT� � which is the title of the project, is a gap analysis research on juvenile justice and juvenile delinquency in Albania that aims to provide UNICEF, the Government and NGO's with a full picture of how the juvenile justice system is organised in Albania; what are the gaps and how the Government shall act to address such gaps.

Meanwhile the second research will focus into juvenile delinquency in Albania and will look into factors of juvenile delinquency; review the data related to family, children and society; and consequences of juvenile delinquency. Such a research, which is carried for first time in post-communist Albania, will provide a list of conclusions and recommendations, including policy implications for policy makers.

The draft-researches will be consulted with wider public during several stages of research work. Two national consultation meetings will take place during 2007 to provide researchers with feedback by Governmental officials and NGO's working in the field of juvenile justice and juvenile delinquency. The researches are expected to become public before May 2007 and the aim is to use them as guide for further changes and improvement of juvenile justice system in the country.