Freiburg starts House of Youth Law: Fighting of Youth Crime!

Freiburg starts House of Youth Law: Fighting of Youth Crime!

In Freiburg, a trend -setting project is bought: A new House of Youth Law is intended to promote interdisciplinary exchange between the police, public prosecutor and youth welfare. This cooperation was recently sealed by a contract between the Freiburg public prosecutor, the Freiburg police headquarters, the city of Freiburg and the district office in Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and Emmendingen. As the House of Youth Law Stuttgart Explained, there are already over 30 such houses nationwide. The first was launched in 1999 in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, followed by other locations such as Pforzheim and Offenburg. This region shows that Lahr, as a tenth house of youth law, is an additional instrument to combat youth crime after a similar project in Offenburg has been successfully active since 2020.

In recent years, youth crime has increased in Germany, whereby the increase was particularly worrying for under 14 year olds and adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18. The Ortenau Journal reports of an increase in violent crime in the age group of age under 14 3.8 % in the group of 14 to 18 year olds. Experts attribute these developments to psychological stress by corona measures.

The concept of the House of Youth Law

The new premises of the House of Youth Law in Freiburg are still being planned, but the concept provides for close cooperation between the various actors. These include prosecutors, police officers and youth welfare employees who pull together together to offer young people who have become delinquent.

In Lahr, modern interrogation techniques have already been implemented and the rooms were designed to be child -friendly. The house should offer both preventive and repressive measures, whereby the police are responsible for prevention work and the public prosecutor's office for the legal steps. Youth welfare will also be supported throughout the criminal proceedings.

With the opening of the House of Youth Law in Freiburg, the region takes an important step in combating youth crime. A holistic approach is followed here that relies on early detection of problematic developments and promotes the technical exchange between the authorities. The search for the right locations has already started and the anticipation for a successful implementation is great.