WILLEMSTAD - The Ministry of Justice wants to tackle juvenile crime in a short and long-term programmatic way. In addition, the ministry wants to focus strongly on more effective guidance and relief for juvenile offenders. This applies to young people at risk, first offenders and repeat offenders. The Ministry of Justice reports this in a statement.
According to the ministry, the programmatic approach entails the expansion of existing apprenticeship trajectories for the target group aged 16 to 24 and the setting up of a facility for living under supervision for this target group. In this context, a letter of intent has been signed with the Union di Hubentut foundation (Funditut) and the New Creation foundation.
Furthermore, according to Justice, a former prisoner needs help in obtaining shelter, training, work and income and aftercare for a good return (reintegration) into society. It is in the public interest that when the ex-prisoner returns to society, he will not reoffend.
This is not only about avoiding costs for the investigation, trial and detention of a criminal, but also about improving the sense of security of the citizen, the statement said.
Justice says that an ex-convict also has an interest in not lapsing into criminal behavior and getting behind bars again. On Curaçao, however, the preconditions are lacking to deploy the necessary interventions for this specific group. The consequence of this is that a large group, despite the guidance and aids used, still reoffends.
In time, the ministry also wants to promote the intensification of addiction care, trauma treatment and the realization or expansion of a buddy program for this group of young people and young adults. This is done in close collaboration with the other ministries.
