1920 Italian support for South Korean efforts
austraLasia #1920

Italy promises support to South Korean efforts to improve handling of juvenile delinquents

ROME: 6th August 2007 -- An eight month comparative study of the 'Cooperative system between public and private sectors for juvenile delinquents, with comparison betwen Italy, Belgium and South Korea' has brought a firm commitment by the Italian Ministry of Justice for support for eventual Italy-Korea collaboration in the juvenile delinquent 'cooperative system'.  This latter has been in place in Italy since 1988 but is not yet implemented in South Korea.  Professor Lee Myong Sook, after spending a sabbatical year with the Salesians in Italy and Belgium, met with the Head of Department at the Ministero di Grazia e Giustizia, Dr Carmella Cavallo, and the Director General for enforcement of judicial decisions, Dr Serenella Pesarin. Accompanying Prof. Lee was Fr Domenico Ricca sdb, national Salesian delegate for Youth at Risk and chairman of the Italian Salesian Provincials Conference (CISI) body which deal with youth at risk as well as full time prison chaplain in Turin. Present too was an interpreter - Fr Vaclav Klement, who is fluent in both Korean and Italian.
    The Italian officials were impressed by Professor Lee's extensive study of European approaches to juvenile problems. In her eight months she had personally visited all the pieces in the mosaic of the Italian juvenile delinquent network:  Family Court, Police, Procurator,  Social agencies, Juvenile prisons,  Salesian juvenile delinquent services, particularly in Rome and Turin but elsewhere such as Livorno.  Then she visited similar institutions at Vremde and Brussels, Belgium.
    In Korea every year some 100,000 juveniles come into conflict with the law (the figure in Italy is 24,000, though Italy's population is closer to 64 million and South Korea's 49 million). Despite the high figure, South Korea this year closed 8 of 16 reformatories without offering an viable alternative. Professor Lee, who is associate professor in the department of correctional and youth studies at Kyonggi University in South Korea, was moved to do something about this and to use her already high profile in that country's juvenile delinquent system to influence Government policy into the future. The 52 year professor, who gained her degrees and experience from both Korea and the United States, has held many influential positions in South Korean Society, having been a member of the Prime Minister's Commission on Youth Protection, and a youth policy specialist with the Korean Government.  It was there that she first came into contact with the Salesians.
    On completion of her 'sabbatical year' amongst Salesians in Italy and Belgium, Professor Lee has expressed her thanks for the extensive help she has received, starting with Fr Pier Fausto Frisoli, the Italy-Middle East Regional Superior, and many othersm scholars, practitioners and welcoming communities. She returns to Korea now to influence her Government to adopt the idea of a Justice Centre for Minors at province and city level, as exists in Italy and as enshrined in law.

    
 
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