The European Parliament adopted the resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Katerina BATZELI (PES, EL) on juvenile delinquency, the role of women, the family and society. It stated that juvenile delinquency is becoming a matter for concern on account of the huge scale it has now assumed, owing to the fact that delinquency is starting at a younger age, the number of offences committed by children under the age of 13 is increasing and that the acts committed by young people are becoming increasingly brutal. Juvenile delinquency could be effectively combated only by adopting an integrated strategy at national and European level which would mesh three guiding principles: prevention, extrajudicial and judicial measures and the social inclusion of all young people.

Policies at national level : in order to combat juvenile delinquency, an integrated and effective school, social, family and educational policy must be implemented, which would help to ensure that social and civic values are passed on and that young people adjust to society at an early age. There was also a need for a policy geared to countering social exclusion and poverty, with particular reference to child poverty. Members emphasised assistance to families with financial and social problems. Parliament felt that families, educators and society should convey values to young people from their infancy. It emphasised the specific role that the family plays in all stages of the fight against juvenile delinquency. Member States must develop adequate support for parents. National policies should include provision for one-year parental leave which would enable families that so wish to devote particular attention to the initial upbringing of their child (which is of such great importance to a child's emotional development).

Parliament also stressed the particular importance of schools and school communities in shaping the character of children and adolescents. If the education system failed to provide suitable channels for intervention, assistance and contact with students, two fundamental characteristics of present-day schools, multiculturalism coupled with an increased distinction between social classes, might lead to violence within schools. Education authorities should be issued with the necessary guidelines regarding an up-to-date approach to conflict management at school by means of conciliation procedures involving pupils, parents, teachers and local authorities.

Parliament went on to emphasise the importance of the following:

- special training for teachers in the management of heterogeneous classes;

- special counselling and psychological support for children encountering problems of social integration, the availability of medical care and the appointment of social workers, sociologists/criminologists, child psychologists and experts in issues relating to juvenile delinquency, measures to combat discrimination against members of the school community, the appointment of a community ombudsman acting as an intermediary between the school and the community and cooperation between various school communities in drawing up and implementing programmes to prevent violence;

- strict implementation of Community and national legislation on the monitoring of television broadcasting possibly of a particularly violent nature or unsuitable for juveniles. Member States authorities should reach agreement with the media on a 'road map' upholding the rights of the child, involving a ban on the broadcasting of extremely violent images at certain times of the day and prohibiting the revelation of the identity of those involved in juvenile delinquency;

- improving the quality of youth centres and enhancing their role as a meeting place for young people ;

- the role of the media in preventing juvenile delinquency by providing information and increasing public awareness ;

- the value of introducing measures in the Member States which would provide alternative forms of punishment to confinement ;

- innovatory legal measures in response to the problem, such as the direct involvement of the parents of juveniles from prosecution up to the implementation of sentences, accompanied by education and intensive psychological support.

Parliament asked Member States to earmark separate budget appropriations specifically for measures to prevent juvenile delinquency.

Towards a European strategy : Member States, in cooperation with the Commission, need to draw up a number of minimum standards and guiding principles common to all Member States in relation to juvenile delinquency. These must focus on the three basic pillars of (firstly) prevention, (secondly) judicial and extrajudicial measures and (thirdly) rehabilitation and social integration or reintegration . These should be based on the principles internationally established under the Beijing rules and the Riyadh guidelines, the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international conventions in this field.

The objective of a common European approach should be to define models for intervention in order to deal with juvenile delinquency, while recourse to custodial measures and punishment should constitute a last resort and be implemented only when judged to be absolutely necessary.

The Commission is called upon to lay down specific criteria for all Member States for the collection of national statistics in order to ensure that they are comparable and therefore usable during the planning of measures on a European scale.

All parties are called upon to learn from best practice and to assess the experiments as regards cooperation agreements between police authorities, educational establishments, local authorities, youth organisations and social services at local level. Member States should also learn from best practice in order to combat the worrying increase in drug consumption by juveniles.

MEPs called on the Commission and the Member States as an initial measure to develop existing European resources and programmes encompassing measures to cope with juvenile delinquency and facilitate satisfactory social reintegration of perpetrators and victims, examples being : the special 2007-2013 programme for 'Preventing and Combating Crime'; the specific 'Criminal Justice' programme for 2007-2013; the DAPHNE III programme to combat violence against juveniles and children; and the European Social Funds. They called for an extension of the Television Without Frontiers Directive (Directive 89/552/EEC) to cover mobile telephony and the Internet.

Two basic lines of Community action should be taken into consideration forthwith:

- funding for preventive measures under existing Community programmes and the creation of a new budget heading for integrated actions and networks to combat juvenile delinquency, and

- the publication of a Commission communication on the extent of the problem in Europe and suitable preparations to be made, through a network of national experts, for the drafting of an integrated framework programme to combat juvenile delinquency.

Parliament called on the Commission to draw up a programme of co-funded measures, to include consideration of best prevention practices and of effective, innovative solutions based on a multi-sectoral approach. Lastly, Parliament suggested a series of measures that should be proposed by the Commission, in preparing the way for the European Juvenile Delinquency Observatory and the related framework programme. These include the establishment of an international centre of excellence.

The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality adopted, by a large majority, the report by Katerina BATZELI (PES, EL) on juvenile delinquency, the role of women, the family and society. In so doing, it stressed that juvenile delinquency can be effectively combated only by adopting an integrated strategy at national and European level which will mesh three guiding principles: prevention , the social inclusion of all young people, and legislative management measures .

1) Policies at national level: the committee considers that the prevention of juvenile delinquency should be organised at three basic levels: (1) primary prevention directed at all citizens; (2) secondary prevention directed at occasional or potential juvenile offenders; (3) tertiary prevention directed at persistent juvenile offenders, in a bid to put an end to such behaviour.

It recalls that families , schools and society in general must work together to combat the growing phenomenon of juvenile violence. They draw the attention to the specific role the family plays in all stages of this fight against juvenile delinquency and asks them to develop adequate support for parents. In this context, they:

encourage the Member States to ensure that their national policies include provision for one-year parental leave which would enable families which so wish to devote particular attention to the initial upbringing of their child (which is of such great importance to a child’s emotional development); consider it necessary to establish a series of concrete restrictions and benchmarks that families, educators and society must convey to young people from their infancy; call on the Member States to give particular assistance to families with financial and social problems.

At school level , the MEPs:

call on the education authorities to issue necessary guidelines regarding an up-to-date approach to conflict management at school; consider it essential to provide special training for teachers in the management of heterogeneous classes; call on the Member States in addition to include within their educational policies the provision of special counselling and psychological support for children encountering problems of social integration.

Other specific measures are presented such as:

reaching an agreement with the media on a 'road map' upholding the rights of the child and in particular those of juvenile offenders, involving a ban on the broadcasting of extremely violent images at certain times of the day and prohibiting the revelation of the identity of those involved in juvenile delinquency; improving the quality of youth centres.

On a legislative note, the committee calls on the Member States to update judicial and legislative procedures in respect of juvenile delinquency, moving towards decriminalisation, depenalisation and a lessening of the jurisdiction of courts and other institutions. It recommends in this connection reducing to an absolute minimum actions punishable by deprivation of freedom and partial or total custodial sentences for juveniles, replacing them with a wide range of alternative educational measures at the discretion of the national courts, such as community service, reparation and mediation with victims, vocational training, road safety instruction and special counselling regarding drugs dependency and alcohol addiction. Member States are urged to adopt new innovatory legal measures in response to the problem, such as the direct involvement in the criminal proceedings of the parents or guardians of juveniles from prosecution up to the implementation of sentences, accompanied by education and intensive psychological support measures, placing juveniles with foster families where considered necessary, together with support, in the form of advice and information, for parents, teachers and pupils in connection with violent behaviour by juveniles at school.

It is made clear in the report that in the case of juvenile delinquency the conduct and the duration of the judicial proceedings, the choice of the measure to be adopted and the subsequent implementation thereof must be guided by the principle of the overriding interest of the child and observance of procedural law. The committee stresses that imprisonment must be ordered only as a last resort and that any prison sentence must be served in facilities suitable for juvenile delinquents.

Member States are called upon to earmark separate budget appropriations specifically for measures to prevent juvenile delinquency, increase funding for social and workplace integration for young people and for the improvement and modernisation of central and regional facilities for juvenile offenders and for the provision of specialist and ongoing training for all individuals involved in a professional capacity and all organisations concerned.

2) Towards a European strategy: the Member States, in cooperation with the Commission, are asked to draw up and adopt immediately a number of minimum standards and guiding principles common to all Member States in relation to juvenile delinquency to focus on the four basic pillars of prevention, rehabilitation, social integration or reintegration and judicial or non-judicial measures . The objective of a common European approach should be to define models for intervention to deal with and manage juvenile delinquency, while recourse to custodial measures and punishment should constitute the last resort and be implemented only when judged to be absolutely necessary.

The Commission is called upon to lay down specific criteria for all Member States for the collection of national statistics in order to ensure that they are comparable and therefore usable during the planning of measures on a European scale.

MEPs call on the Commission and the Member States as an initial measure to develop existing European resources and programmes encompassing measures to cope with and prevent juvenile delinquency and facilitate satisfactory social reintegration of perpetrators and victims, examples being : the special 2007-2013 programme for 'Preventing and Combating Crime'; the specific 'Criminal Justice' programme for 2007-2013; the DAPHNE III programme to combat violence against juveniles and children; European Social Funds.

Other measures have been approved to raise awareness of the violence portrayed on television, for example, the Television Without Frontiers Directive (Directive 89/552/EEC) sets strict limits regarding the broadcasting of violent and unsuitable images. The committee calls on the Commission to extend existing obligations to cover mobile telephony and the Internet.

Other innovative measures are proposed such as:

1) the setting up of European Juvenile Delinquency Observatory , the purpose of which will be to collect and make a comparative assessment of statistics from all the Member States, disseminate experience and good practices, plan and promote innovative initiatives and programmes at international, inter-regional and Community level, provide advisory support, organise seminars with the participation of the national authorities and, finally, organise technical and scientific cooperation on matters relating to personnel training and the exchange of professionals;

2) the setting up of a free Europe-wide telephone hotline for children and young people with problems .

Lastly, the committee asked for creation of a new budget heading should be created for integrated actions and networks to combat juvenile delinquency and for a publication of a study on the extent of the problem in Europe.