In an interview published on Friday by La Dernière Heure, the French-speaking Youth Support Minister Rachid Madrane has voiced his desire to monitor serious offenders. His target group are young offenders who have committed serious crimes and teenagers who have been radicalised after detention in IPPJs (Institutions Publique de la Protection de la Jeunesse - young offenders institutions). This “translates, specifically as, re-integration into school, attending a youth centre and medical and psychological support, all of which should be done in close cooperation with the youngster’s family,” explained the Youth Minister who wishes to work towards achieving a rationale of youth reintegration.
For now, monitoring youngsters after they leave detention only occurs on a non-mandatory basis. The take-up for such monitoring is less than 25% amongst these youngsters.
Moreover the Minister stated that over the past year 1,627 institutional measures were taken as compared to those for 1,081 youngsters in the preceding year. 11 teenagers were taken into care owing to suspicion of their radicalisation. Four of them are still currently being held in a closed IPPJ facility.
(Source: Belga)
