Youth violence in Latina, the safety representative of the Democratic Party of Latina, Tommaso Malandruccolo, intervenes
“The resort to the immoderate use of violence as a way to resolve conflicts periodically resurfaces in the panorama of the Latina youth community, rekindling social alarm and political debate. However, I believe that the phenomenon does not only concern the world of young people, but the social fabric as a whole, of which it is a litmus test.
A greater presence of law enforcement and the use of technology are the institutional response which obviously legitimately and shareably raises more expectations, because it quickly accommodates a real and emotionally perceived problem. However, we are aware that this instance cannot be considered univocal and an end in itself.
Although it appears to be the most direct solution, it would mean acting only on the symptom, without removing the causes that underlie the problem, leaving it unresolved. Although timely interventions are necessary, we cannot exclusively hypothesize a widespread militarization of the territory, not because the presence of the police forces is disturbing, but rather because if this alone were to be abdicated as an instrument of protection we would have to acknowledge an evident defeat of the civil society.
And in any case it would be objectively unthinkable to foresee patrols in every corner of the city, also considering the amount of work to which police operators are subjected daily who, with increasingly limited resources, are also called upon to deal with other types of situations, just think of predatory crimes in the suburbs or to the “red codes” of increasingly alarming gender violence, just to give two compelling and current examples. Today it is essential that there is a social condemnation, which comes from all segments of the community, a collective indignation that does not spare the same groups of young people and their families.
Which is of particular interest to adults, unconscious models of daily emulation. Furthermore, it is important to immediately inform the single emergency number at the first signs of any anti-social demonstration and to file a complaint when one is the victim of an attack, a factor which with the Cartabia reform is essential for promoting criminal action. And this is not for a merely justicialist objective.
The policy of silence must be discouraged at all costs, because it is the harbinger of a social humus that could radicalize into a mentality that culturally does not belong to us. The exclusion of recourse to designated institutions can also evolve towards two directions, psychological submission and do-it-yourself justice, which is to be condemned without exception.
More broadly, geographically speaking, there are not infrequent cases of young people who, to avoid ending up in the traps of bullies, have equipped themselves with particular defense skills, transforming themselves into executioners. The legitimate affirmation of one’s own safety should never go beyond the boundaries of respect for others, as unfortunately sometimes happens.
With a view to prevention activity, which should always be considered top-level, regional law 2/2016 for the prevention and fight against bullying had proven to be valid, to which I had contributed as a consultant in the drafting phase.
On the basis of that law, which I still consider effective, the Regional Council on Bullying and the peripheral tables were born which brought together in a synergistic manner all the institutional actors and representatives of the third sector that revolve around the world of young people, with joint purposes of detection, analysis , study and strategic intervention, under the supervision of the Guarantor for Childhood and Adolescence.
The signs of distress are always evident, so that they can be read predictively as an alert, this is one of the priority objectives that the institutions and projects implemented must be able to grasp if they intend to intervene early. But there is not only a dynamic reading of the phenomena to pay attention to.
In this sense, a flaw in the system is represented by the lack of importance given to the environmental and housing examination phase. Analyzing the child’s living environment, where he is forced to live unlike adults, noting the critical issues, also in terms of services, would be the ideal prodrome approach for sustainable urban and human regeneration.
The prevention and contrast measures to invest in are as varied as they are complex. To give some examples, the establishment of the integrated multi-institutional table for the prevention of juvenile distress, on which the previous municipal administration was working, in concert with the Prefecture of Latina.
The promotion of an ethical sport, adopting virtuous conduct, such as the third half of rugby, the creation of musical rehearsal rooms in villages and suburbs, to stimulate positive relationships, restorative justice, with human redevelopment projects through the guided development of skills alternatives. And also authoritative interventions for the management of conflicts between peers, implementing the offer of educational and cultural opportunities that compete with exposure to negative but charismatic models.
Parenting courses and the much desired listening centre, also in web mode. In conclusion, combine measures of a repressive and territorial control nature with others of a cultural, educational and urban nature that produce slower, but stable and permeating results towards future generations”.
Thus, in a note, Tommaso Malandruccolo, “welfare and security” representative of the Democratic Party of Latina
