SPOTLIGHT ON YOUTH DETENTION 1.1.3 – Outlook Information about rights and duties Juveniles should be given comprehensive information when they are booked in about their rights and duties during detention as well as the applicable house rules. In many youth detention centres the Joint Commission visited this information is first provided verbally and all the documents are then also handed out in writing. As already explained in regard to the matter of treating detainees with respect, the aforementioned sets of rules should be written in polite and respectful language and should provide balanced information about rights and duties. The focus should not, as for example is the case in Düsseldorf Youth Detention Centre, primarily be on sanctions. Some youth detention centres impose sanctions on juveniles who do not begin their detention voluntarily without first informing them of this consequence in their summons. No sanctions should ever be imposed of which juveniles have not been informed beforehand. The execution of youth detention has again been widely discussed in the public domain in recent years. The debate arose on account of the legislative activities in the Länder following the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling. This also once more focused public attention on the academic debate. It is already apparent that the individual laws focus on the educational impact which detention should have on juveniles and that they prescribe what activities should be on offer. However, the statutory requirements are not yet being applied everywhere in practice. This is, amongst other things, due to the funding and staffing levels available in the detention centres. The quality of the execution of youth detention therefore currently varies considerably. To ensure that youth detention has as sustainable an impact as possible, measures also need to be available after release. Some laws and draft laws make specific requirements in this regard. It is also clear that facilities are turning away from repressive measures such as a “disciplinary punishment” (Hausstrafe) or special precautions, such as those which have tended to be used in prisons. It remains to be seen to what extent the statutory requirements will have an impact on this specific form of detention. Pedagogical concept and purposeful activities To ensure that it is clear that the concept on which the execution of detention is based is a pedagogical one, all youth detention centres should have a written educational concept. That was not the case in all the facilities visited, though it is a statutory requirement in some Länder, for example in Schleswig-Holstein. Many youth detention centres apply multi-stage models or points systems. Wherever these models or points systems are used, they should be transparent and comprehensible. Detainees should not get the impression that they are applied arbitrarily. In addition, they should not be excluded from purposeful activities for any length of time. The youth detention centres in Berlin-Lichtenrade and Worms, for example, have good models in operation. However, these systems should be no substitute for an educational concept, they can at most be supplementary to one. Long lock-up times run counter to the educational purpose of youth detention and are therefore problematical. The majority of youth detention centres visited have a very wide range of educational measures and purposeful leisure-time activities on offer, and the young offenders spend relatively short periods of time in their detention rooms without anything to do. 1.2 – FACILITIES VISITED A total of 19 youth detention centres were visited in the period under review. The reports have been pub27 lished on the National Agency’s website. Meals Detainees in various youth detention centres complained to the Joint Commission about the fact that meal portions were too small. Attention should be paid to this matter. 27 31 www.nationale-stelle.de