Antigone report: with the Caivano dll a surge of juvenile detainees, already 500
In 2023, average daily attendance increases for the second year in a row
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Key points
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"Steps backwards", as a result of the so-called Caivano decree, in the delicate and dramatic juvenile justice sector that has already recorded about 500 detained youngsters since the beginning of the year, a record number in the last fifteen years, and the decree - born after the shock rapes in the Naples area - is having "destructive effects" on the "recovery paths" of young offenders. This is emphasised in the seventh Report that Antigone dedicates every year to the situation of very young people who end up in the detention circuit and reception communities.
The focus on minors in prison highlights that more than one in two offences is against property. And cases of drug law violations top the list. These are two of the elements that emerge from the seventh report on juvenile justice in Italy by Antigone, presented today in Rome.
Crimes against the person accounted for 22.7% of all offences against persons who entered the penal institutions for juveniles. The most frequent category of offences is against property, which accounts for 55.2% of the total offences against all those who entered penal institutions for minors during 2023, 63.9% when looking only at foreigners, and even 70.2% when looking only at women. Among property crimes, the most recurrent is theft, which accounts for 15.1% of the total offences against all those who entered IPM in the year, and even 35.6% for women only.
Crimes against public safety (10.6% of the total) basically coincide with narcotics law violations, which account for 10.2% of the total number of offences against those entering institutions in 2023, and 14.5% when looking at Italians alone. These numbers, if we look at admissions in 2022, were 6.9% and 8.6% respectively. In fact," Antigone observes, "if we compare the crimes committed by those who entered in 2022 with those who entered in 2023, the greatest growth is that recorded precisely for violations of the law on narcotics, which increasedby 37.4% in just one year.
Between children, minors and young adults 496 people behind bars
On 15 January 2024, there were 496 juveniles, minors and young adults, detained in the 17 penal institutions for minors in Italy. There were 13 women, 2.6% of those present, and 254 foreigners, 51.2% of those present, i.e. more than half. The institute with the largest number of students was the Beccaria in Milan, with 69 boys, those with the fewest were Quartucciu in Sardinia, with 8 boys present, and Pontremoli in Tuscany, the only all-female institute in Italy, with 8 girls. The other 5 girls present were distributed between Naples and Rome.
