In the period from the 7th to the 9th of December 2022, the Perpetuum Mobile Institute organized a three-day seminar, entitled “Penology and Civil Society” with members of the Association of Penologists of the Banja Luka Region, who work in the professional treatment service of the Banja Luka Penitentiary.
During the seminar, the Young Men Initiative project was presented, as well as the educational packages that were developed within this project. The emphasis was on the manual for working with young people at risk “Program Y+”, and the methodology and application of the manual in working with young people. Workshops from the manual were also presented, which the Perpetuum Mobile Institute implements in this penal institution, with the consent of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Srpska.
Professor Nebojša Macanović, PhD, Miloš Milićević, psychologist, and Nikola Dorontić, social pedagogue as experts with many years of experience working with young people at risk and working in penal institutions, shared their work experience and the importance of cooperation between civil society and penal institutions. They emphasized that it is necessary to strengthen the capacities of penal institutions and provide innovative programs both in the process of prevention and in the process of resocialization.
They also discussed the continuation of intersectoral cooperation, and the improvement of the program for the prevention of violence and delinquent behavior, especially among young people.
One of the seminar’s conclusions is that, first of all, part of the school curriculum must deal with the prevention of violence, both in secondary and elementary schools, and that penal institutions can be equal partners in that process.
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