Moldova gets closer to advanced juvenile justice standards

All children can learn from their own mistakes and all children deserve a second chance. This is the core principle of an advanced system of juvenile justice, and Moldova is increasingly getting closer to its standards, according to a UNICEF report presented in Chisinau on Thursday, Info-Prim Neo reports The assessment report of the “Juvenile Justice System Reform” Project for the years 2008-2011 has found that due to changes made in the justice system in the last few years, it was managed to reduce the number of children in detention by an impressive 68%. Further, custodial sentences are now applied only for serious and extremely serious crimes or in case of recidivism. Among the accomplishments made in the juvenile justice system, mentioned by UNICEF Representative in Moldova Alexandra Yuster, are the increased use of procedures alternative to detention, such as probation and community service, and improved access to education for the children in detention. At the same time, the report finds that there is an insufficiency of services for the children in conflict with the law and a lack of mechanisms for integrating these children into society. The report recommends a number of measures to ensure the continuity of the progresses made so far. UNICEF remarks the need to develop social community services so that the children in conflict with the law can enjoy social and psychological support to correct their behaviors, and, in other cases, to prevent deviant behaviors. The report also recommends to specialize the judges that hear cases involving children, to reduce pre-trial detention terms for children and expressly establish a time limit in the legislation, and to improve the quality of education provided to children in detention. According to UNICEF, these measures need to be considered and implemented in the process of reforming the juvenile justice system in Moldova in order to fully ensure a child-friendly system. Deputy Justice Minister Vladimir Grosu stated that, while Moldova has made some progress in this field, there is a lot of work to do as concerns the implementation of the recently adopted laws. The report was published as part of a UNICEF project funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).