Correctional staff working with juveniles play a critical role in safeguarding their human and fundamental rights, per relevant United Nations conventions and rules (The Beijing Rules; The Nelson Mandela Rules). Staff must understand the diverse risk factors contributing to juvenile offending – including development, trauma, mental health, disabilities, and socio-economic challenges – to provide tailored support addressing juveniles' needs.
Despite the emphasis on capacity-building in juvenile correctional services by various EU strategies, guidelines and rules, a gap persists between training policy intentions and quality training practices. The ARISA Child research project aimed to bridge this gap by assessing professional training needs and creating a digital training course grounded in Risk-Need-Responsivity, Desistance and Recovery Models.

A comparative training needs research study, employing surveys and qualitative interviews across 10 EU member states, revealed common deficiencies in training for staff working with juveniles. In the first instance, this paper presents the resulting policy recommendations to improve national strategies for training juvenile correctional services staff. Additionally, the paper presents findings from the recent evaluation study assessing the effectiveness of the developed digital staff training course. Initial results, from implementation in five languages, indicate the programme’s success in improving knowledge of child-friendly justice practices among staff.
The ARISA Child research underscores the importance of developing organisational training policies and practices that are informed by both empirical models of rehabilitation and complimented by staff needs, as informed by the lived experience of those working in juvenile correctional settings.

From Policy to Practice: Enhancing Child-Friendly Juvenile Correctional Training Across Europe (PID086)

Speakers

Claire Machan

Heloisa Becker