Keeping children away from crime:
Early prevention as a method for social inclusion
Sanita Sīle, PROVIDUS researcher
Vilnius, June 26-27 2014
Participation in conference is financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway in framework of NGO Activity Support Measure. NGO Activity Support Measure is financed with financial support from EEA Financial Mechanism and Republic of Latvia.

Children and crime

Number of convicted juveniles in Latvia
Statistics: Judicial informative system

“Early prevention” refers to a series of actions which aim at creating an environment that deters children from persistent disruptive behaviour and early-onset delinquency. By involving the entire society and implementing specific actions (lawful and socially useful), we can ensure that the personal development of children is as harmonious and as free from crime as possible.
International Juvenile Justice Observatory
Early prevention

Why it should be done?
How can it be done?
Where and by whom it should be done?
Early prevention / Social inclusion

The aspect of costs

If the programme costs are lower than the expenditures for the damage caused by the crime and compensations it is worth to continue financing the programme.
The aspect of costs

The aspect of costs

In the last years a decrease in age of juvenile delinquents and children with antisocial behaviour is observed in Europe.
The earlier is the age at which the child commits the first antisocial deeds, the higher is the possibility of the development of such behavioural model in future – an early-starters model.
Another group includes children who do not show elements of antisocial behaviour or such behaviour until adolescence but then the situation changes rapidly (late onset model).
Educational institutions and family have to be able to recognise antisocial behaviour risks in due time and choose an adequate prevention method for them.
Early prevention

Application of prevention measures for children at their adolescence is a battle against the effects and consequences and prevention methods are more suitable for identifying and averting the causes.
Successful prevention of antisocial behavior in the work with children at a young age decreases the necessity of crime prevention in later years of children and youth development.
Early prevention

Early prevention

Early prevention

The following factors are identified as risk factors:
•individual risks (early antisocial behaviour, poor cognitive development, hyperactivity and other emotional stability factors);
•family risk factors (poor relations between the parents and children, poverty, maltreatment, violence, divorce, parental psychopathology, familial antisocial behaviours, teenage parenthood, single parent family and large family size);
•friends from risk groups (friends with antisocial behaviour; peer rejection);
•school and community risk factors (failure to bond to school, poor academic performance, neighbourhood disadvantage, disorganized neighbourhoods, easy access to drugs and toxic substances).
The risk factors

The following protective factors are opposed with the above mentioned risk factors:
•regular school (preschool) attendance;
•motivation to learn, acquire new skills, participation in extra curriculum activities;
•positive attitude about the world in general;
•ability to discuss problems with parents and family;
•positive adult example.
Antisocial behaviour prevention and interventions are applied to reduce risk factors and activate protective factors
The protective factors

Building a Support System to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency
Duration: 01.01.2011.-30.06.2012.
Practical experience I

Keeping Youth Away from Crime: Searching for Best European Practices
Duration: 07.01.2013.-06.01.2015.
Practical experience II

Reducing youth at risk numbers: modeling early childhood intervention approaches
Duration: 01.11.2013.-31.10.2015.
Practical experience III

Criminal justice prevention
a set of methods which the law enforcement agencies work with.
Situational prevention
set of activities in order to reduce the opportunities for antisocial behaviour and prevent it.
Community prevention
has a task to achieve changes in the social conditions and institutions that can influence the environment (community) in which antisocial behaviour is or can be performed
Developmental prevention
refers to the inhibition of the development of antisocial behaviour in individuals, using prevention methods to target risk factors that can influence further human development.
Early prevention

The main conclusions

Thank you for your attention!
Sanita Sīle
sanita.sile@providus.lv