Sozialkapital durch Gewaltprävention: Erkenntnisse aus einem Mediatorenprogramm bei jungen MigrantInnen

In: SIAK-Journal: Zeitschrift für Polizeiwissenschaft und polizeiliche Praxis, Heft 3, S. 4-15

Abstract

"The mediation programme Medi.Peer addressed socially disadvantaged,violent youth in the city of Duisburg who had been repeated and serious offenders before. The project was based on two assumptions: First,even violence-prone youth possess competences in mediation which are used in everyday life in order to avoid violent behaviour in conflict situations. Secondly, prevention of violence is likely to be successful among young deviant migrants if experienced members of this milieu are included. Based on these assumptions, two youth groups were recruited to participate in a year long (educational) training in order to increase their social competences and to reconsider previous attitudes and behaviour patterns. This should contribute to minimize the juvenile delinquent behaviour by discussing and studying alternative behavioural options in training modules which should later be practiced in other settings as well. Furthermore, the programme aimed at mediation and multiplication by the participants in everyday life. For several reasons these goals were realized in just one group; the failure of the second group was mainly due to acute drug addiction of its participants and their refusal to change their habit of drug consumption.Many things can, however, be learned from the experience in both groups, not just from the success with the group in which - apart from the intended goals - it was possible to increase the social capital on both the individual and the social level." (author's abstract)