ADOLESCENT OFFENDERS WITH A MIGRANT BACKGROUND: EDUCATIONAL PATHS IN ITALIAN RESIDENTIAL CARE

In Italy, residential care for youths plays a key role in the juvenile justice system. In an educational context, it responds to the needs of adolescents and enables their accountability in restorative programmes. Italian legislation allows for the placement of adolescent offenders in residential care to ensure the application of non-detention measures, even in the case of the absence of both family and adequate living conditions. According to data from the Italian Ministry of Justice, the percentage of adolescents with a migrant background in the juvenile justice system has increased in recent years. Their presence is especially relevant in residential services; juvenile detention centres and residential care for youths. For this reason, residential services are now operating in an ever more multicultural context. In light of the increased number of migrant young offenders in residential care, this article aims to explore the educational role of these services in the Italian juvenile justice system focusing on minors with a migrant background. For migrant young offenders, to be placed in residential care represents the opportunity to be subjected to an alternative detention and to start on an educational path oriented towards their reintegration. Developing personalised educational programmes, the specific needs of migrant young offenders have to be taken into consideration, in order to avoid the two-fold risk of marginalisation and stigmatisation.