Action for Greentrees Youth - Research Proposal Example

Action for Greentrees’ Youth’ Introduction The happening in the Greentrees area are of a grave nature. The young people, who are looked upon as the future of the area are hopelessly engaged in crime, gun battles, drugs and deprivation. Inhabitants are worried. Not too long ago, there was a successful football team. The youngsters were gainfully engaged. Through sports activities they developed sound moral and good virtues. Unfortunately, the situation is different now. Instead of healthy sports competition of a football pitch; young people are shooting at each other in the streets. Drugs are common place. Crime is spiralling out of control and the net result is depravation of the community youth. A few months ago, nobody would have thought that somebody could be shot six times in the streets if Greentrees area. Things are evidently getting out of control. It has become imperative on the local leaders and the community at large to take action. Together they should stop the violence. As the inhabitants of Greentrees have realised that they need an action plan. Questions arise, like how can they bring back harmony, peace, security and confidence to their streets and neighbourhood. A casual glance of the happenings in Greentrees area conclude that they are criminal in nature. The challenge becomes how they bring back sanity to their community while protecting each other. As it is common knowledge, Criminal Justice put emphasis on the system, not on the affected parties. If you offend your neighbour, you go to jail. Serve time, come back and probably live with the same neighbour again. This encourages incidents of repeat offending. It therefore becomes incumbent upon the community to find ways to heal the community. Under the Criminal Justice System, Mediation is one of the commonly used tools in restorative justice. Mediation if properly used will definitely bring back peaceful co-existence between families in the neighbourhood. In using mediation, elements of negotiation, arbitration, mediation and litigation have to be carefully evaluated and applied only where appropriate. The circumstances surrounding the conflict must be carefully reviewed in order to be able to apply the right element of mediation. Victim-offender mediation is vital for a lasting solution (Graef 2001). It is agreeable that bringing offender, face to face with their victims, help in the healing process. It is only at such encounters that the victims are able to express their feeling openly and the offenders have opportunities to realize the harm they cause and make apologies or amends. Mission Statement Reclaim the youth of the Greentrees Area from drugs, deprivation, crime and gun battles, and put them back in Schools where they belong, for the greater future and harmonious peaceful coexistence of the inhabitants of the area. Aims and Objectives 1 To assist families in the neighbourhoods to live in harmony with each other. This will be done through organising of social events that bring them together. 2 To encourage mediation as means of restorative justice in order to significantly cut down on the spiralling instances of repeat offending and restore the feeling of confidence and security. We will endeavour to bring the victims and the offenders together, in seeking resolution, while providing avenues for Victim-Offender mediation, seeking to express the views of the victim and allowing the offender to make amends or apologise. It is important that the offenders realize the harm caused to the victim. 3 To decrease the possible for anti-social performance using interference and preventative work with young people who have come to the attention of the police, so that they may bring about positive results for themselves 4 Embark on Peer Mediation training for youthful people in schools and make available Restorative Conferencing as an important resource. 5 Work with the law enforcement agencies such as the police in identifying potential trouble-rousers and recommending pre-emptive action. This would involve working with the probation officers, social services, local police, and correctional officers to prevent incidences of repeat offending. 6 Encourage peer advocacy among the youth and collective advocacy in the community. 7 Employ pre-emptive strategy in combat of crime, drugs and lawlessness. This would generally involve lobbying of the local authorities to pass laws and regulations that deter unsocial behaviours by meting out stiffer penalties for repeat offenders. 8 Promote and encourage moral uprightness, and instillation of good social virtues in the youth. 9 Always adhere to fair treatment of the all parties in a dispute and strive to reach an acceptable settlement to both the offender and the victim. 10. Live together in harmony and peace. Stakeholder analysis Table 1: Identification of Key Stakeholders Stakeholder Stakeholder interests in project Assessment of impact Probable approaches for obtaining shore up or reducing challenges 1. The Youth, 2. Parents 3. Local leader 4. Local Churches 5. Schools 1. These are the target group 2. Parents want to keep their children safe , away from harm 3. Bring security to the neighbourhood and protect the community 4. Moral values of the community 5. Better behaviour, concentration on studies A - Youth are the target group. A-Critical for parents that their children are reclaimed from crime and deprivation B -For a healthier and a more secure neighbourhood. Leaders must be involved A-Churches are important if the project is to excel A- Youth spend quiet a lot of time at school. Their Integration is necessary. Identify local role-models that this group look up to. Visiting families and explain the objective of the action plan. Should be actively engaged in the process Identify communal projects in which to engage the young people Initiate clubs in school that promote peer advocacy SWOT Analysis Strengths What works? What resources? What do others sees as its strengths? Weaknesses What could be improved? Any resource implications? What do others see as the weaknesses? 1. Goodwill of the parties concerned. It is good that it is the local leaders that identified an action plan for the youth of Greentrees. 2. The repulsive attitude that the residents have towards the happenings in their neighbourhood. 3. The parents urge to protect their children. 4. The willpower to bring security to the community. 5. The local leaders interest in the safety of the neighbourhood. 6. A rallying point that galvanises the community against acts of crime 1. Families have to develop stronger bonds. 2. The religious institutions have to identify channels of engagement with the youth in more central ways. 3. Poor cooperation and or lack of coordination between law enforcing agencies. Opportunities What opportunities are open to you? Is there anything that can be taken advantage of? How can strengths be turned into opportunities? Threats What may harm the project? What threats do the weaknesses expose the project to? 1. Apathy towards the violence in the street. 2. The availability of capital to fund the project. 3. Being the pioneering the project of this kind, may make it readily acceptable to the residents of the Greentrees area. 1. Resistance from the local gangs 2. Slow response to the initiatives of the project 3. Possible lack of interest from the youth Service Provision The mediation service will focus on advocacy. The approach will be three pronged; legal advocacy, peer advocacy and collective advocacy. It would argue well with the community legal services are rendered to them especially those that cannot afford legal representation. The Key interventions this service would offer include arbitration, negotiation, mediation and litigation (Fuller and Taylor 2008). Mediation would be offered under different contexts, dictated by the circumstance surrounding the conflict. In providing this service, there would definitely be need of professionals such as lawyers, specifically skilled in juvenile matters. There would also be need of counsellors. This would be the primary resource needed to deliver services. Apart from the core staffers, there would be need of enhanced cooperation and coordination among the various law enforcement agencies. . Service evaluation We propose to evaluate this service by parameters such as drop in the level of crime, reduced use of drugs among the youth, safer streets, and increased enrolment numbers in the local schools, the arrest and successful conviction of the local drug barons. Conclusion Mediation is the less painful way to achieve justice (Boulle and Neisic 2002). It takes into consideration both the victims and the offenders. It is also effective as in can be applied in varied different contexts. Victim-offender mediation is most effective. As we seek to rid our neighbourhood of crime, this is the way forward. Restorative justice heals, criminal justice harms. Bibliography Boulle, M. and Nesic, M (2002) Mediation: Principles Process and Practice Butterworths Centre for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking and Umbreit MS (2001) The handbook of Victim-Offender Mediation: An Essential Guide to Practice and Research. San Francisco. Jossey Bass. Fuller C and Taylor P (2008) A Toolkit of Motivational Skills: Encouraging and Supporting Change in Individuals. London. Wiley Blackwell. Graef, R (2001) Restorative Justice London The Gulbenkian Foundation Oxford University Probation Studies Unit and Robinson G (1996) Victim-Offender Mediation; Limitations and Potential. Probation Studies Unit (No 2). Oxford University Centre for Criminological Research. Read More