The five key weaknesses in the overall system
Lack of staff. Apart from caring for their charges, parole officers must also do research at the pretrial stage. The report is presented in court during the young offender’s hearing and may be taken into consideration when the judge decides on the penalty. – The officers must also visit their charges at home, work and school. The 17 parole officers of Attica, who are responsible for all cases from Marathon and Nea Makri in the east to Drapetsona in the west, are too few to deal with the cases. In response to their standing request that new officers be appointed to the empty posts, the Justice Ministry says it does not have enough funds. Lack of training. Parole officers for minors belong to the Justice Ministry and are appointed by the Supreme Council for Personnel Selection (ASEP). They are all graduates of universities or technical colleges. In practice they all do the same work since there is no code of operations to differentiate their responsibilities in accordance with their education or experience. They furthermore receive no specialized training in matters related to drug and alcohol dependency. Weak technology. Just last year approval was given to provide computers in the departments. However, the only secretary in the area is retiring and she will not be replaced any time soon with someone who has computer skills. The ministry says that the needs at appeals and first instance courts are greater. Lack of prevention. Little action has been taken to prevent juvenile crime. Cases of juveniles who show signs of adopting criminal behavior in the future usually come before the courts after complaints. There is no special department to deal with preventative measures (despite requests by judges and parole officers). The new law contains provisions for prosecutors to take preventative measures under certain conditions. At that point the prosecutor may ask a parole officer to provide a profile of the «potential offender» and offer an opinion about the application of preventative measures. Lack of infrastructure. The new law has provisions for additional rehabilitation and therapeutic measures. These include the option of community service, transfer of care to a foster family, training at a vocational school and enrollment in a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program. There is no state infrastructure for any of these and the gap is filled by NGOs, which reach an agreement with the parole officers, though without any official cooperation protocol. There is also a gap in the provision of accommodation, as there are very few hostels and the law on care units that was drafted in 2003 was never implemented.
