Matías was 12 years old when he left his family and joined a gang.
It wasn’t long before he was arrested and sentenced to between three and eight years in a juvenile detention facility, where he began to endure threats and harassment from other gang members.
Matías, now 17, wanted to free himself of the gang and pursue his true passion of soccer, but facing several years in detention, he wasn’t sure if it would be possible.
Judge Bella Torres decided to give him a second chance.
Through her membership in the Proponte Más-facilitated Juvenile Justice Technical Committee, Torres had learned how detaining youth could actually increase their risk factors for engaging with crime and violence in the future, such as through the negative peer influence of other detainees.
In consultation with the committee, Torres switched Matías’ sentence to an alternative measure and found a local organization that could give him support.
Matías recalls when Torres gave him the news: “‘I am going to send you to a Christian-based organization,’ she told me. I doubted her, but I thought, ‘God is sending me here.’”
Through the Juvenile Justice Technical Committee, Proponte Más is working with judges, lawyers, advocates and elected officials including the attorney general to strengthen alternative sentencing in Honduras and reduce the number of juvenile detainees. A major part of this push is the idea of risk differentiation, recognizing that two youth engaged in crime may in fact be at very different levels of risk and need distinct interventions to help them reduce those risk factors.
For Matías, alternative measures have given him a chance to continue his schooling, learn new skills and refocus his energies on something positive.
“I have been engaged in all areas of the organization, but I really liked learning construction. I’m finishing up seventh grade and I want to try out for the soccer league in Olancho,” he says. “I want to try to be better, because I want to earn a salary and raise my daughter outside of danger.”
Contact: Evelyn Rupert