Through this initiative, the CICAD Executive Secretariat supports the development and consolidation of therapeutic justice programs for justice-involved adolescents with problematic drug use in Peru.

Alternatives to incarceration (ATI) programs, and therapeutic justice interventions in particular, enable justice-involved individuals who have an underlying substance use disorder that acts as a factor in their criminal conduct to have access to treatment and rehabilitation options, under judicial supervision.

Therapeutic justice programs for adolescents have, in essence, the same philosophy as those applied to an adult population. However, they also involve unique elements, due to the special human rights protections in place for minors, as well as the need to take into account their specific developmental needs and their wider family and social environment. In addition to the prospect of a life free of drugs and a reduction in recidivism, these programs aim to promote responsibility among adolescents, increase school attendance and performance, and improve family relations.

The project in Peru was launched in 2018 to support the development of ATI interventions involving treatment and social integration for justice-involved adolescents with substance use issues. This project is implemented in collaboration with the National Commission for Development and Life Without Drugs (DEVIDA, by its Spanish-language acronym), the Judiciary, the Attorney General’s Office, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, and the Ministry of Health, among others, involved the establishment of two pilot therapeutic justice programs for adolescents, one of which operates in the pre-judicial stage, and the other, in the judicial stage.