Medellín, Colombia – Colombia’s second largest metropolis, Medellín, has come a good distance for the reason that early Nineties when it was dubbed the world’s homicide capital.
A mixture of safety operations, agreements with armed teams, and funding into probably the most weak communities aimed to assist steer town’s youth away from gangs and violence. Murder charges have since sunk from 380 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1991, to 24.1 per 100,000 in 2024, the bottom in over 55 years, according to the federal government of the state of Antioquia, the place Medellín is the capital.
The prevalence of youth offenders has additionally dropped for the reason that days when the Medellín Cartel would recruit younger hitmen from the slums on town’s hillsides. In keeping with knowledge shared with Latin America Experiences by the Colombian Nationwide Police, the overall variety of youth offenders in Colombia dropped from 13,527 in 2019 to 7,509 in 2024 — with probably the most prevalent crimes together with medication manufacturing and possession, theft, and firearms possession.
One problem dealing with the Colombian authorities and organizations that work to forestall youth crime is recidivism, the tendency of convicted youth to reoffend.
Whereas figures on youth recidivism in Colombia are scarce, Colombia’s Ministry of Justice reported in 2019 that 7.9% of convicted inmates re-enter the system inside one 12 months of their launch. This determine rises to 13% for 2 years, 16.6% for 3 years, 19.2% for 4 years, and 21% for 5 years.
To assist fight recidivism amongst Colombia’s youth, organizations across the nation make use of restorative justice practices. One such program working in Medellín is the La Confraternidad Carcelaria de Colombia (Jail Fellowship Colombia), a religious-based NGO affiliated with Jail Fellowship Worldwide.
Working in Colombia since 1980, the group helps individuals which have been disadvantaged of liberty in addition to their households and their victims by means of a deal with restorative justice.
Latin America Experiences spoke to Lina Hernandez Nassif, the Coordinator of the Juvenile Restorative Justice program at Jail Fellowship Colombia, to study extra about this system’s techniques and affect.
The next interview has been edited for readability and brevity:
Latin America Experiences: Might you inform me about how Jail Fellowship Colombia began and why?
Lina Hernandez Nassif: This 12 months the group is celebrating 45 years of exercise in Colombia. It was not a Colombian initiative, however a part of Jail Fellowship Worldwide (PFI), an NGO that’s an advisor for the United Nations Workplace on Medicine and Crime.
The Jail Fellowship got here to Colombia in 1980 to open a department right here to take care of prisoners. In 1980, I perceive that some Canadians got here, inspired by Charles (Chuck) Colson, who was a politician from the US, and the founding father of PFI.
Due to funding from the US, we had been in a position to open operations right here. Nonetheless, it wasn’t till the Nineties that the Confraternidad Carcelaria de Colombia had a a lot larger enhance and we started to have rather more affect within the penitentiaries; and within the 2000s we had exponential development by means of the creation of various programmes for the jail inhabitants.
LAR: Within the programme you direct, Restorative Juvenile Justice, what are the actions which have probably the most constructive results for the offenders?
LHN: We attempt to have a differentiated course of for victims and offenders. When a minor commits against the law in Colombia, that particular person enters a system that could be very versatile and could be very helpful for them, as a result of it doesn’t give them a judicial document. In contrast to adults who’ve extra difficulties with regards to receiving advantages for the programme as a consequence of their information.
Throughout the programme we develop an agenda the place the adolescents see a sequence of matters associated to restorative justice; similar to crime; differentiation between battle and crime; easy methods to take accountability; and we give them the mandatory instruments to restore the harm.
So, if it’s a query of advantages for the youngsters, they’ve them from the start, as a result of one of many prospects when collaborating in a programme like ours is the discount of their sanction. If there’s a discount of the sanction, there may be motivation to take part.
So it’s a win-win scenario. The system wins, the adolescent wins, and so does the group.
LAR: Is the Restorative Juvenile Justice programme run on a voluntary foundation? How do the kids you’re employed with come to the programme?
LHN: It’s sophisticated as a result of we’re coping with minors. They’re minors who typically don’t know easy methods to make choices, they usually make choices based mostly on impulse.
We go to the care models the place they’re detained or sanctioned and maintain conferences, explaining the programme [to officials]. We strategy the administrators they usually inform us which teams we are able to work with and we current the programme to these adolescents.
So, in every presentation there are roughly 25 youngsters. Then we clarify the programme and the target with the victims, and ask who needs to take part? Then once we ask them, in the event that they increase their arms, they do it.
However we’ve got additionally had circumstances the place judges and prosecutors refer youngsters to us. When the kids are referred to us by a public official, whether or not that be a decide, a public defender or a prosecutor, the participation within the programme is obligatory.
So there are two methods, the adolescent doesn’t essentially come voluntarily by means of an official of the system, or they take part voluntarily once we contact them within the detention facilities.
When a decide sends an adolescent, usually the adolescent doesn’t wish to take part. However after they’ve been within the programme for 2 or three months, they tackle what they’ve learnt and after the programme, we see that they’ve benefited. Up to now we’ve got had very constructive outcomes.
LAR: Jail Fellowship Worldwide is a company based mostly on non secular morals. Is it tough to instil this religion or is it saved as a separate ideology?
LHN: The PFI is a company based mostly on Protestant Christian foundations. Right here in Colombia we’ve got accomplished the identical factor, the group continues to have the identical foundation and the identical non secular basis.
Nonetheless, within the programme we don’t do any type of proselytising, we don’t make non secular appeals or promote any type of non secular apply. We avoid that as a result of we don’t need restorative justice to be associated to the church.
They’re two issues which might be higher separated and distances from one another. So whereas the group has a Christian base, this programme just isn’t Christian in any respect.
LAR: Do you could have particular success tales?
LHN: Sure, in fact, we’ve got many success tales.
We now have been working in Colombia for six years now, however particularly right here within the metropolis of Medellín, and the outcomes have been extraordinarily constructive. Success tales, as many as you need.
Nonetheless, we’ve got had circumstances the place adolescents have taken on the data, they determine with restorative justice, they prefer it, however in the long term the consequence, as a result of there isn’t any sufferer participation, the method finally ends up being a bit incomplete. Incomplete as a result of there was no sufferer who participated in a selected course of.
LAR: Speaking in the direction of the longer term, what plans do you must proceed growing the venture? How will you obtain this?
LHN: Nicely, we’ve got been receiving funding from the federal government for nearly two or three years, however solely to implement the programme briefly durations of time, 4 to 5 months.
Final 12 months, one of many projections we had as a programme, which I got here up with, was the promotion of productive initiatives for adolescents. So, what is occurring is that within the models the place the adolescents are sentenced, they obtain coaching. For instance, coaching in carpentry or ironwork, blacksmithing or style. What we do is finance their very own enterprise or micro-enterprise, in order that they’ll generate assets and get out of felony life.
In the mean time we’re aiming to strengthen that, as a result of final 12 months we had been in a position to assist about 15 youngsters and to hyperlink three of them to firms. It’s an excellent quantity for a pilot venture, so the concept this 12 months is to strengthen it, to have extra youngsters linked to firms.
One goal is to strengthen relations with the enterprise sector, in order that they perceive that felony life additionally relies upon so much on entry to first rate jobs and employment.
The less alternatives an adolescent has to affix an organization or to work, to generate his or her personal earnings, the extra probably she or he is to return to crime.
Our crew is working to strengthen {our relationships} with entrepreneurs, additionally to obtain donations, to assist the kids of their enterprises and, however, we’re planning to divulge heart’s contents to extra departments and cities within the nation as we’re already very robust in Medellín.
We want to prepare and assist the governors’ places of work, the Colombian Institute of Household Welfare, and different care models all through the nation, as a result of there’s a large hole in work accomplished for restorative justice.
Though the adolescent system says that restorative justice is transversal, what we’ve got noticed is that there’s a lot of ignorance about what restorative justice is. Many administrators and lecturers within the care models don’t know the time period.
Featured picture description: Artwork workshop from programme. Credit score: Lina Hernandez Nassif
