Plan mulled to tackle juvenile delinquency

Greece's Health Ministry is preparing a program aimed at developing a model for the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency, Stelios Stylianidis, psychiatrist-psychoanalyst and professor emeritus of social psychiatry at Athens' Panteion University, told Kathimerini. 

Juvenile offenders are mostly boys aged 14 to 18 from low socioeconomic backgrounds. They exhibit low self-esteem, a lack of goals and motivation, low performance in school and a high dropout rate. Their family environment is often dysfunctional. The measures will be implemented in schools, municipal welfare, mental health and child protection services, in local police precincts and the competent judicial authorities and sports bodies. 

Stylianidis explains that speeches will be given in schools and when an incident occurs, a discussion will be held in the classroom with the students (including...