Combating Juvenile Delinquency Through Creative Expression

The Crime Suppression and Reintegration Initiative (CSRI), in cooperation with the Public Institution for the Education of Male Children and Youth – Sarajevo and the Cantonal Public Institution Disciplinary Center for Minors, has implemented the project "Do It Yourself" whose donor is the Municipality of Centar Sarajevo, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

- The goal of the project is to contribute to the reintegration of juvenile offenders, wards of these two institutions, who are serving an educational measure, and to confirm their self-confidence through work-occupational therapies in the form of artistic workshops. The project represents a continuation of CSRI's activities in providing support to institutions where treatment of educational measures for juvenile offenders is carried out, with the aim of reducing recidivism (reoffending in committing criminal acts) among this category of persons - stated CSRI.

The work-occupational therapies were held at the Public Institution for the Education of Male Children and Youth – Sarajevo and the Cantonal Public Institution Disciplinary Center for Minors, and the children, under the supervision of professional staff, created various artworks using different techniques of painting, drawing, making and decorating objects, thereby fully expressing their creative, intellectual and emotional potentials.
By conducting this type of activity, children show both themselves and others that they are a useful part of society and that they are not only a topic when it comes to negative phenomena we witness almost daily.

The works of the wards of these two institutions will be exhibited at the American Corner in Sarajevo during January 2015.

WHAT IS CSRI

The Crime Suppression and Reintegration Initiative (CSRI) is the only organization of narrowly profiled experts in Bosnia and Herzegovina with many years of experience working in police agencies, in the system of execution of criminal sanctions, working with delinquent persons and persons at risk, which assists institutions dealing with research and suppression of crime and reintegration of perpetrators of criminal acts.