UAE students taken to court... to discourage crime

A juvenile who was tried for stabbing a person in his neighbourhood during a fight, heard the verdict in court along with his mother and brothers.

The judge issuing the verdict ordered the boy to be detained in the Juvenile Prison for few months.

His heartbroken mother was shocked to hear the verdict and collapsed in the court hall crying. His brother was also crying, and the juvenile was in terrible condition and crying as well to see his mother and brother weep, and shocked as he did not expect such punishment.

The whole scene was seen by a group of students from a private school in Dubai along with their teachers and supervisors. The students were feeling sad, and some of them had tears in their eyes to see the juvenile’s mother crying.

These students’  visit to the court to attend such cases is part of ‘Nebras’ programme launched by the Family and Juvenile Prosecution in Dubai to make teens aware of the laws and consequences of committing crimes.

Speaking to ‘Emirates24|7’, Advocate-General Mohammed Ali Rostom, Head of the Family and Juvenile Prosecution, said they launched this programme in 2011.

“The programme has proved to be successful, popular, and we are getting tremendous requests from private and government schools to accommodate their visits.”

He pointed out that earlier, most of the schools used to host speakers to visit schools and lecture students on different topics.

“However, that is a bit boring, and frankly speaking not all students benefit from it. Instead of inviting speakers to schools, we thought of bringing students to court to see live court sessions of juveniles, and we feel that this is the best way to make these students aware of the laws, and also careful not to commit such crimes.”

He pointed out that in the beginning, the students are taken to the court halls to attend the hearings. “When they leave the court hall, they are already shocked and most of them have negative feelings after hearing the judgment. We have special psychologists who then meet these students, and turn these negative feelings into positive feelings. This benefits us and the students a lot as it helps in reducing the crime rates committed by juveniles.”

He added that they also make teens aware of the laws. “We explain to them some basic laws. For example, if three boys attack and assault one boy, then what can be their punishments. Also if a teen is involved in a theft case, what will be his punishment, and so on. In this way, we help these teens by making them more aware and also careful not to get involved in such crimes.”

He added that in 2013, a total of 23 private and public schools, with 993 students, were involved in this programme. In 2014, 29 schools were involved, with a total of 1,254 students.

“After the visit, we check with schools the effect of the visit and programme on students involved, and fortunately, the teachers assured us that they witnessed great improvement in the behaviour of students after their visit to the court, especially those who were trouble makers and stubborn.”

He also added that the satisfaction rate among students and teachers who participated in the programme was 97 per cent last year, compared to 95 per cent in 2013.
 

[Image: Shutterstock]

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.