Center for Criminological Research Saxony presents final report on the achievement of self-imposed goals of the first Saxon House of Juvenile Justice as well as recommendations for action.
The Center for Criminological Research Saxony e. V. (ZKFS), an affiliated institute of Chemnitz University of Technology, has published its final report on the evaluation of the House of Juvenile Justice Leipzig. The report has been published by Tectum Verlag and is now available to download free of charge as a PDF in open access format.
As part of the evaluation, the ZKFS research team led by project manager Rowenia Bender investigated whether the self-imposed goals have been achieved since the center was launched in 2015. As part of the establishment of the House of Juvenile Justice Leipzig, the three authorities involved – the police, the public prosecutor’s office and the youth welfare service in criminal proceedings – formulated goals within a cooperation agreement that were to be achieved through inter-agency cooperation under one roof. “A total of five goals were defined, three of which we have reviewed with regard to their fulfillment,” says Rowenia Bender.
The objectives reviewed are:
- Joint work “under one roof” to optimize inter-agency cooperation between the cooperation partners; as a result, a considerable reduction in the duration of proceedings (increase in throughput figures) is to be achieved.
- Ensuring a uniform quality standard through transparent work processes
- Positive signal effect of the project on the population
In order to also evaluate the two other formulated objectives (“Increasing the preventive effect in preliminary proceedings by involving all cooperation partners at an early stage of the proceedings – early help and services” and “Preventing or breaking off ‘long-term criminal careers'”), the project would have had to be much more extensive and run for longer. For pragmatic reasons, the research team refrained from doing this as part of the evaluation project.
“The results we now have show that the goals we set when the center was established in 2015 and which we investigated have only been partially achieved. Based on our evaluation, we are making suggestions for improvements, particularly with regard to communication between the institutions involved,” summarizes Prof. Dr. Frank Asbrock, Director of the ZKFS.
Several perspectives provide a more comprehensive picture of the work of the House of Juvenile Justice Leipzig
“We used various research methods to examine the objectives in three main areas: the perspective of the staff at the House of Juvenile Justice Leipzig, the perspective of the young people whose cases are dealt with at the House, and statistical data analysis,” says Rowenia Bender.
Statistical data from the police, public prosecutor’s office and Leipzig district court was analyzed for the evaluation. The data shows that the average duration of police proceedings has been significantly reduced by around five weeks since the center was set up. However, the duration of proceedings at the public prosecutor’s office and for the proceedings as a whole has not been significantly reduced since the establishment of the house. In 2022, the average duration of proceedings at the Leipzig House of Juvenile Justice was 5.7 months from the day the preliminary proceedings were initiated until they were concluded by the public prosecutor’s office.
Mix of written survey and interviews
Furthermore, written surveys and interviews with employees of the facility provide insights into the experiences and assessments of the employees. “Through the perspective of the facility’s employees, we were able to gain particular insights into the successes and challenges of inter-agency cooperation work,” says project manager Rowenia Bender. The results showed, for example, that all three authorities are generally satisfied with their work, but that there were differences with regard to the assessment of cooperation. The police gave cooperation with the public prosecutor’s office a grade of 1.6 and with the youth welfare service in criminal proceedings a grade of 3.5. The youth welfare service gave cooperation with the police a grade of 4.2 and with the public prosecutor’s office a grade of 2.6. The public prosecutor’s office awarded the best grades: 1.3 for cooperation with the police and 2.3 with the youth welfare service in criminal proceedings.
Juvenile prisoners also interviewed: mixed impression of working under one roof
Interviews were also conducted with six juvenile prisoners whose cases were being processed at the House of Juvenile Justice in Leipzig. “Capturing the perspective of young people was a particular concern for us in the study, as they are the target group of the House of Juvenile Justice and their interests should be taken into account in the design,” says Rowenia Bender. The interviews with the young people revealed that around half of them were critical, while the other half were rather unsure about their attitude, although some of them also mentioned positive aspects of the joint accommodation provided by the three authorities.
Finally, the analysis of data from the nationwide representative “Panel Study on the Perception of Crime and Offenders(PaWaKS)” provided insights into the social perception of Houses of Juvenile Justice. Among 5,129 respondents in Germany and 436 respondents in Saxony, only one in ten people knew what a House of Juvenile Justice was.
Recommendations for action derived
From these and many other results presented in the evaluation report, the authors derived recommendations for future inter-agency cooperation in the Leipzig House of Juvenile Justice and gave advice for the establishment of further houses. Among other things, the researchers recommend the development of guidelines that regulate inter-agency cooperation more clearly and, in particular, address clear responsibilities, mutual expectations and communication, taking into account the experiences and needs of employees.
Background: House of Juvenile Justice Leipzig
The House of Juvenile Justice in Leipzig is the first House of Juvenile Justice in Saxony; further houses have since been built in Görlitz (2021) and Bautzen (2022). There are over 40 facilities across Germany. In Houses of Juvenile Justice, youth welfare services in criminal proceedings, the police and the public prosecutor’s office work together under one roof. The aim is to facilitate processes such as inter-agency communication and thus optimize and improve the effectiveness of action against and prevention of juvenile crime.
Background: Center for Criminological Research Saxony (ZKFS)
The Center for Criminological Research Saxony (ZKFS) is the first independent research institution for criminology in Eastern Germany and conducts basic and practice-oriented criminological research with a social science focus. It is financed by funds based on the budget approved by the Saxon state parliament. Since December 2021, the ZKFS has been an affiliated institute of Chemnitz University of Technology and thus the first social science institution to receive this status.
Publication: Bender, R., Krumma, A., Neubert, J., Hoffmann, A., Bolesta, D., Führer, J., & Asbrock, F. (2023). An evaluation of the House of Juvenile Justice Leipzig. Tectum. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783828851177
For further information, please contact the project manager M.Sc. Rowenia Bender, phone +49 371 335638-32, e-mail rowenia.bender@zkfs.de, and the director of the ZKFS, Prof. Dr. Frank Asbrock, phone +49 371 531-31678, e-mail frank.asbrock@zkfs.de
Mario Steinebach
16.11.2023
