The study examines the current status of human rights protection in juvenile training schools based on international human rights standards for juveniles in juvenile training school.

First of all, the study tries to identify required elements for human rights protection in juvenile training school by examining the rights of children in international standards and rules, human rights in the juvenile justice, and human rights in the treatment of juveniles in facilities. Second, taking into account those elements required for human rights protection in juvenile training school, the study closely looks into the current operation system of juvenile training school and how they are administered in Korea. Third, to determine the current status of human rights protections in juvenile detention facilities, surveys and in-depth interviews were conducted on teens who are detained in juvenile centers and staff of those centers. With outcomes of surveys and interviews, it suggests measures to improve human rights protection of juveniles in training school. Fourth, in a comparative context with the purpose of analyzing treatment and human rights protection status of juvenile facilities in foreign countries, the study examines cases of the UK, the U.S, Germany and Japan. Lastly, it presents suggestions to improve human rights protections in juvenile training school, considering outcomes of analysis of the current situation in Korea and the implications from comparative studies of foreign countries.

Follows are summarized outcomes of survey and in-depth interview on juveniles and staff of juvenile training school in Korea.

1. Facility Conditions and Human Rights Protection

First, regarding the size of the juvenile training school, most of the juveniles and staff answered that small-sized centers would be better to achieve expected aims of juvenile training school. Juvenile respondents answered that they prefer a small-sized center considering numerous factors such as concentration on correctional education, close relationship with teachers, and less risks of conflicts among peers in juvenile training school. Meanwhile, the staff replied that the smaller the size of a juvenile training school is, the better for juveniles as a small-sized center is less-crowded with less chances of conflicts among juveniles in training school. In addition, in a small-sized center, they may have more opportunities to meet their family. Those benefits of small-sized juvenile detention facilities are consistent with international standards and recommendations of United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juvenile Deprived of their Liberty, Article 30, “Havana Rules”: recommendation CM/Rec(2008)11 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the European Rules for juvenile offenders subject to sanctions or measures.

Second, the distance between juvenile training school and home where juvenile detainees lived was divided into two categories; the travel time between two places and subjective distance of individual juvenile’s perception of how close or how far home is. To begin with the travel time that parents or caretakers take to come to juvenile training school, more than half of respondents said that it took one or around two hours while 45.5 percent respondents answered that it took more than 3 hours. Next, the survey asked juveniles’ subjective distance from home and the training school, 70.5 percent of them thought they were far from home (including those who answered home is little far away and replied their home is really far from the center). On the other hand, only 29.5 percent of the respondents thought that juvenile training school was close to their home. As for the reason why they choose the juvenile training school where they are in, 35.2 percent of respondents said formal educational or desired vocational training, while 29.2 percent answered the reason was that the center was close to home. Simply put, reasons that they choose a juvenile training school far from their home could be explained with the fact that only the limited number of juvenile training schools provide formal education and each juvenile training school offers different types of vocational training. Considering international standards or recommendations that juveniles should be placed in the center close to their home to ensure the right to family contact, they should be in a juvenile training school where is close to their home for purposes of receiving educational or vocational training.

Third, regarding the ideal number of occupants in a dormitory room, 31.2 percent respondents said that five occupants shared one room for sleeping and other individual activities, 29.1 percent (3 occupants), 18.4 percent (4 occupants), and 13.9 percent (two occupants). Only 7.3 percent of respondents answered they used the room to themselves. About the question of desirable number of occupants per a dormitory room, 59.4 percent preferred 2-4 occupants, 28.5 percent said number of occupants did not matter to them while 4.0 percent replied a single room would be ideal. Based on outcomes of the survey, it was found that juveniles thought an ideal number of occupants in a dormitory room would be 2-4. They explained if more than 5 are in a same space, there would be more noise and more risks of being conflicted with others, but at the same time, it would be lonely or bored if he or she uses the space alone.

In particular, they did not prefer a single room because of their experience of staying all day in the dormitory room on holidays and the negative perception that those who are failed to adopt to life inside the juvenile training school generally are assigned to the single space. Comparing to juveniles, surveyed staff thought a single dormitory room is better than multiple occupancy because it was helpful in preventing and resolving unnecessary and unexpected conflicts among juvenile detainees. However, among participated staff, there were opinions that a single dormitory room was not good emotional stability. Under the international rule on juvenile detention, and domestic studies arguing for the need for assigning a single dormitory room per person, single or a small number of occupancies are desirable for one single dormitory room. Even in a case of providing a single dormitory room to per person, communal spaces should be open to all juveniles in the center so that they could spend time and do something after work on weekdays or on holidays within the juvenile training school.

Fourth, with regard to facility space, the majority number of respondents answered that it was inconvenient for them to share the dormitory room, toilets, shower room and washroom when more than 5 occupants should share the limited space. Based on replies of respondents, it could assume that more space for a dormitory room is necessary in order to improve living conditions of juveniles.

2. Treatment of Juveniles at Juvenile Training School and Their Human Rights Protection

First, about fundamental living conditions such as bathing, feeding, and sleeping, 64.3 percent of participated juveniles showed the highest positive response to number of accesses to operable showers (the ratio of 'mostly yes' and 'strongly yes'), followed by sleeping space (60.7percent), food quantity (57.9 percent), bedtime (52.8 percent), food quality (48.5 percent), bedding (48.1 percent), and shower time (46.3 percent) were in order. While the majority of juveniles were satisfied with the number of access to operable showers they were not happy with the shower time (30.0percent). In particular, the younger they are, the more female than male juveniles tended to be dissatisfied with short shower time. With regard to shower time, it was found that gender does not cause any differences in opinion on shower time through in-depth interviews with detained juveniles. However, taking into account the fact that females usually wash their underwear while taking a shower and they generally spend more time in taking a shower, it may be necessary to set the shower time differently between female and male considering characteristics of girls and boys. When it comes to bedding, 53.1 percent answered that they had a bed with a mattress and they showed high level of satisfaction with sleeping conditions and bedding. Juveniles and staff answered that they prefer bed to floor bedding because they could secure their own sleeping space with bed, which may lead to less risks of unnecessary conflicts between juveniles in the same space. In addition, they were admitted to juvenile training school, they used bed. For those reasons, they answered in favor of bed than floor bedding.

Second, regarding exercise and leisure activities of outdoor exercise, 76.3 percent of respondents answered that they have four to five times outdoor activities per week. In fact, international standards and recommendations for juvenile training schools, outdoors activities should be provided every day if possible. When it comes to hobbies and leisure activities, large number of juvenile interviewees and respondents said that they have insufficient chance to develop or learn healthy hobbies or leisure activities. It is recommended to develop and offer various hobby and leisure activity programs in consideration of the age, developmental characteristics and desires of juveniles.

Third, questioned juveniles tended to think positively about access to treatment when they had physical or mental problems. Large number of respondents said that they were satisfied with treatment for physical or mental problems. However, the perception of access to treatment and care was lower for the age group of 14-16 years, compared to other age groups, and the level of satisfaction with treatment was lower in female juveniles than males. Staff of juvenile training school explained, during the in-depth interview, that medical examinations are provided immediately after detention admission of juveniles and medical treatment and care are provided at outside hospitals and medical institutions if necessary. However, some argues that it is necessary to improve medical treatment and care for juveniles through promoting access to outside medical institutions with increase in the number of supervising personnel, expand medical equipment, and increase the medical experts in timely manner.

Next is about privacy protection from the viewpoint of pat-down and clothing search for the purpose of finding banned items and checking personal items. For the question of how they felt during pat-down and clothing search, 68.2 percent answered that they never minded while 21.5 percent replied they felt discomfort, 18.4 percent felt shame and 10.5 percent felt humiliation. The survey found that the younger juveniles were, the more they felt discomfort, shame, or humiliation than older ones. It means that careful consideration for them may be required before performing pat-down or clothing search.

With regard to question about privacy protection and dangerous zone, 60 percent of the respondents said there were places where protection of privacy may not be expected. 34.5 percent respondents pointed out installed CCTV cameras as the main reason for insufficient protection of privacy, 5.1 percent and 4.6 percent answered that there were blind spots and places with a risk of violence, respectively even CCTV cameras are installed, the rate of male juveniles aged between 14 to 16 years who tended to perceive places or spaces with risk of violence was higher than that of other age groups. At the same time, female juveniles also showed high tendency in perceiving risky places and blind spots in juvenile training schools.

In-depth interviews and survey on detained juveniles and staff showed that they understood the necessity of installing CCTV cameras. Considering their perception on CCTV cameras, it is required to come up with plan and measures to minimize inconvenience caused by CCTV while protecting privacy of juveniles.

Fifth, with regard to provision of necessary information on their rights as well as life and overall regulations in juvenile training schools, around 50 percent respondents answered that they were well informed of their rights in juvenile training schools. The contents of information provided by juvenile training schools to juveniles include general information about life in the juvenile training school and how to respond to unfair treatment and raise complaints. This kind of information is provided right after they are admitted to the juvenile training school. However, in order to protect human rights in the juvenile training school, separate education on juvenile human rights (including the human rights of teachers) is needed. Next, for ways to deal with any complaints or unfair or maltreatment, most responded juveniles said they would tell the teacher (or supervisors) or to inform it through an opinion poll. The method of notifying any problems of outsiders is rarely used.

Sixth is about disciplines or punishments in the juvenile training school when juveniles are involved in or caused a trouble. The main discipline method is grounding. However, grounding should be imposed on an exceptional occasion when other sanctions have not been effective (Ministerial Committee Recommendation 95.4 on European Rules for Juveniles Subject to Sanctions or Dispositions). The period of grounding should as short as possible because being isolated is a tough discipline to them. This is the reason why alternative discipline to grounding should be come up with and implemented. Interviewed staff explained that the frequency of exercise was different for each juvenile training school (from once a week to almost every day) during grounding discipline. Considering the recommendation that at least one hour of outdoor exercise should be provided every day even during disciplinary grounding (Ministerial Committee Recommendation 95.4 on European Rules for Pupils Subject to Sanction or Discipline), those being disciplined should be ensured everyday outdoor exercise.

Seventh, For the question about protective equipment, 10 percent or more respondents answered that they had experience of wearing protective equipment due to problematic behavior. Main equipment used to restrict them was rope or handcuffs. Other types of equipment to restrict movement are rarely used. When going out of the juvenile training school, handcuffs were mostly used, followed by rope. The question about how they felt when they wore restraint devices, 50 to 60 percent of respondents answered they did not care. Those aged between 14-16 year had a higher rate of feeling humiliated or shame when wearing handcuffs or other restraint devices than other age groups. In the same context, female juveniles showed a higher rate of feeling humiliated or shame compared to men. Taking into account of emotions and feeling of juveniles when they feel while wearing those restraint devices, more careful consideration will be required along with explanations when using protective equipment.

Eighth, the attitude of teachers as well as peers toward juveniles themselves in detention centers and also plays an important role in human rights protection within the facility. First, questions about types of attitudes of teachers, around 60 percent of juvenile respondents checked out the items indicating the teachers' positive attitudes, and less than 10 percent of them did items indicating teachers' negative attitudes. When it comes to the peers’ attitudes to themselves, 19.6 percent replied that they were maltreated by peers in the detention centers (generally yes and strongly yes). They pointed out swear words or insults as main methods of maltreatment or unappropriated attitudes. Surprisingly, 6.4 percent of questioned juveniles said that they had experience of being beaten by other peers. In particular, outcomes of survey and in-depth interview showed that the younger juveniles (aged between 14-16 years) the more they experienced maltreatment by peers. So measures should be taken to protect them from bad and unacceptable maltreatment from older ones in the detention centers. In addition, it was found that risks of victimization of peer violence or maltreatment increased when the number occupants sharing a dormitory room increased (for example, more than 5 occupants use one dormitory room). So it can be seen that the number of persons sharing a dormitory room should be limited with a view to prevention of peer violence or maltreatment.

Ninth, family and external exchanges were examined. At the time of the conducting survey, family visit to detention centers were temporarily suspended due to widespread of COVID-19, so responses were made based on the situation one month prior to the time of the survey. Of course, it was difficult to meet their family as usual due to Corona-19 even a month before. Questions about frequencies of family visit, 37.5 percent answered once every 2-3 months, 27.7 percent once a month, 25.3 percent twice a month, and 9.4 percent more than 4 times a month. In particular, it was found that families tended to visit less frequently when the distance from the residence was far. With regard to phone calls, 57.0 percent of them made phone calls at least once a week while 14.0 percent called to their family members once a month. Questions about duration of family visits or phone calls, most of them answered that they felt duration of visit or phone call was short while environment for visits or phone calls did not matter for them. Specifically, before COVID-19 spread widely across the nation, family visit generally lasted 1 hour or 40 minutes, however, it currently lasted 10-15 minutes. They were allowed to talk on phone with their family members 5 to 20 minutes. Considering detained juveniles’ right to family contact with the parent (UNCRC Article 37(c); Articles 60 and 61, Havana Rules), it seems needed to provide more opportunities for family visits and phone calls. Regarding the exchange of external resources, the study tried to figure out types and degrees of open treatment or short-term treatment that the surveyed juveniles wanted. According to outcomes of the survey, the majority of respondents (50-70 percent) wanted more open treatment programs and around 10 percent of respondents answered they did not want any open treatment program. For open treatment programs, those who were sentenced to longer term detention (Disposition No. 10) wanted more open treatment than those to disposition No.9 with short term detention. For this reason, it is necessary to implement various open treatment programs for juveniles who have been sent to a juvenile training school for a long period of time.

Tenth, with regard to temporary discharge, slightly more than half of the respondents said they knew the standard for temporary discharge, and respondents who said they did not know it accounted for 20 percent. In addition, less than a half of the respondents thought that the temporary discharge decision was fair, and the percentage who did not think it was fair was 20percent. The denial of temporary discharge means continuous deprivation of liberty, so when making a decision on temporary discharge, it is necessary to provide the juvenile with a decision based on clear criteria and an explanation thereof.

3. Rehabilitation from the View Point of Education and Human Rights Protection

First of all, the study examined whether correctional and rehabilitation education was conducted in consideration of the juveniles needs and desires. Outcomes of the survey implied that juveniles in detention centers thought their opinions and thoughts were reflected to some extent when they chose the curricula or optional programs they were receiving. In addition, nearly 60 percent of respondents thought that the correctional and rehabilitation education they received was necessary for them.

Second, compared to normal formal education, about a half of juveniles uated positively education and educational curricular considering their learning ability, education quality which is equivalent to that of external schools, and help in returning to school or going to school after application.

Third, 60 percent of respondents highly recognized for vocational training provided in the detention centers and were satisfied with the current customized vocational training to their competent and capacity. They also thought that they got high quality vocational training which could be comparable to outside vocational training. They also thought that it would be helpful in finding job after they are released. On the other hand, 2-10 percent of respondents gave negative opinions about vocational training provided in the detention center. About 70 percent of respondents pointed out expanding external vocational training opportunities or vocational training programs, and vocational training tailored to their abilities as ways to improve current programs. Results of survey on vocational training implies that detained juveniles wanted diverse vocational programs tailored to individual’s ability and competency. In addition, considering the age of detained juveniles, it may be difficult to get a stable job immediately after being released, so it would be helpful for them to attend diverse vocational training.

4. Overall Status of Human Rights Protection at Juvenile Training School

First, treatment in a juvenile training school is the most important factor for the protection of the human rights of juvenile detention students, but at the same time it is required to make juveniles delinquents understand the purpose of the disposition. Questions about whether the judge explained grounds and reasons for imposing certain disposition on them such as detention in youth detention center, around 60 percent of respondents said the judge did, while 30 percent answered the judge did not. The survey asked respondents to rate purposes of disposition or punishment from 0 to 5, respondents in order to know how survey responders perceived punishment or disposition. Punishment or discipline for misconduct marked 4.04 points, locking up from delinquency (3.85 points), to fix my problems (3.72 points), and helping me live a healthy life (3.57 points) and protecting me from negative influences from society (3.46 points), in order. In the case of juvenile detention, respondents showed strong tendency to regard sentence to detain in the youth detention center as punishment rather than think purposes of juvenile justice. Survey results highlight the significance of informing clearly purposes of the disposition at juvenile training schools and making subject juveniles understand. To this end, any decisions on juvenile delinquent cases should be accordance with juvenile justice and the life in the juvenile training schools also should adhere to it.

Second, with regard to staff-related matters, emotional empathy with those juveniles in the detention center and support are recognized as the most important elements that they should meet, followed by making them realize their mistakes and managing them to prevent future misbehavior. What the most required education and training required for staff is counseling techniques for children and adolescents, followed by understanding the characteristics and causes of delinquency, the purpose of the Juvenile Act, the characteristics and development stages of children and adolescents, and the human rights of them. The majority of respondents (70-80 percent) said education and training on those subjects are highly required. In other words, these subjects should be included in education and training programs for staff of youth detention centers,

Third, the survey asked respondents (juveniles and staff) to rate the importance of each area, such as facilities, treatment, and correctional and rehabilitation education, for human rights protection in juvenile training schools. Both juveniles and staff responded that peer relationship in the juvenile training school was the most significant factor for the protection of the juvenile's human rights. Juvenile respondents rate low conditions of facilities while staff scored low in terms of the number of occupants of a dormitory room. The difference in view between juveniles and staff could be interpreted that juveniles put importance in specific treatment while staff did in conditions of facilities so as to promote human rights protection in juvenile training schools.

Lastly, the study presents measures to promote human rights in all areas of detention facilities, treatment, correctional and rehabilitation education, and disposition option of placing them in juvenile training school based on findings of survey and practices in major countries.