3.6 Alternatives to Detention When asked for suggestions about alternative ways of dealing with children other than detention, some children did not appear to be aware that there was an alternative to detention. A few children justified the use of detention as a warning that got them back on track – ‘a lesson learned’. More often, children pleaded that children should not be punished or detained at all: ‘Don’t arrest and detain children for drug trafficking. They are not able to traffic the narcotics or do not understand about the trafficking. They are used by their parents for this purpose’. (M/15/1:APG) ‘Me, I think that prison is not made for children; it is necessary to direct them into education and training centres’. (M/13-17/1:AFG) Children, irrespective of the setting, almost always focused on the need for community or family-based care as an alternative to detention. These suggestions included the following: ‘Have house arrest so that you can still see your family’. (M/16/1:WEOG) ‘Getting the relatives to take the initiative and raise the children. Most of the children should not be part of this setting as they still have relatives to take care of them’. (MF/13-17/4:AFG) ‘Unaccompanied minors should be connected directly to a legal guardian and hosted in a shelter with support services so that they don’t spend even one day in detention. Police stations or prison is not a suitable place for minors’. (M/22/3:WEOG) a. Value of Alternatives to Detention Some children justified the need to avoid detention by describing the negative effects and, in particular, the fact that they become more likely to commit further or more serious crime: ‘If you stay with a killer, you will be a killer. If they beat you once or twice, you think ‘why can’t I do this’? (M/19/3:WEOG) ‘Here, the life in prison trains you more for recidivism than for change’. (M/15-17/1:AFG) 103