site.btaJustice Ministry Focuses on Delinquency

Minister of Justice Georgi Georgiev opened the first meeting of the inter-ministerial expanded working group on drafting legislative amendments in the field of combating juvenile delinquency, the ministry's press centre reported Wednesday. “The reform of the juvenile justice system is long overdue and today we are putting it fully in the focus of our legislative initiatives, especially with the increasing negative events involving children,” Georgiev said. 

According to him, the goal is not a revolution, but an evolution in the way these complex social relations are regulated to affect youth and children at risk, the mechanisms for re-education and the current practices and trends.

The Minister added that the juvenile justice system needs a qualitatively new approach, modern legislation with care for adolescents and, along with this, envisaged impact measures specifically adapted for minors, as a form of prevention of negative behaviours as well.

The working group includes representatives of the judiciary, the ministries of education and labour and social policy, the child protection agency, and others.