This project should generate an increase in the number of juvenile offenders referred to and/or completing alterative sentences, reduce recidivism, and facilitate access to justice for particularly vulnerable juvenile populations, including migrants, the disabled, afro-descendent and indigenous populations,

credit: Razoo

and juveniles suffering from addiction, especially in Limón, Pococí, Puntarenas, San Carlos, the Southern Zone near the Panamanian border, and other vulnerable areas, as identified.

Project activities should also facilitate the reinsertion of juvenile offenders into their communities by identifying educational and employment options for juvenile offenders, providing tools and strategies to facilitate their engagement with the formal education and employment sectors, and increasing access to drug treatment services.

The project should also increase the services available to victims of juvenile offenders, by adapting the restorative justice framework to address the particular needs of this population, and equip a larger population of Poder Judicial staff to apply restorative techniques and provide continuity to the project by training future staff.