“As a huge shift in the operation of the state against juvenile delinquency,” said Deputy Minister of Sports, Giannis Vroutsis, the measures announced by him and Lt. Justice, Giorgos Floridis, to tackle juvenile delinquency through the participation of offenders in sports activities.

Speaking to ERTNews and the show “Connections”, Mr. Vroutsis referred to how children 12 to 18 years old who have committed misdemeanors will be treated, saying that if they wish, they will be taken, with the juvenile probation officer, to a sports club to engage in a sport of their choice.

“The antidote to violence is sport,” he said, noting that “in the future, children who enter sport will turn their anger into positive energy.”

As he said, “Forty-six countries from Europe commissioned us to do this measure, which is being launched for the first time in Greece.” As revealed yesterday a judge in Lassithi issued the first three sanctions and the children enthusiastically welcomed the measure and enrolled in a sports club in Lassithi.

Which children are affected by the scheme

In particular, as the Deputy Minister of Sports pointed out, “For the first time a law against sports violence has a positive impact”. These are children prosecuted for offences of mild delinquency (alcoholism, violence among minors, violations of the Traffic Code, etc.

“Together with the Ministry of Justice, we have gone to five pilot prefectures Lassithi, Chania, Ioannina, Kastoria, and Athens. We have talked with the sports clubs, we have discussed with the coaches, there has been a whole preparation,n and next year we are ready to do it universally throughout the country,” he added.

The selection of clubs will be made from among the recognized clubs of the Ministry of Sports that have a licensed facility and a coach who has a contract with the club.

Speaking to ERT, he described that the juvenile court bailiff who monitors the child will fill out the relevant form continuously and the judge will be informed about the progress of child’s progress, i.e. the behavior of the juvenile offender and the sports club’s program, his performance, his interactions.

“The integration will be both rapid and will have an effect, I believe,” added Mr. Voutsis, expressing his thanks to the sports clubs in these five counties that embraced the initiative.

“This is a revolutionary measure, one of those that we rarely say in public debate,” the deputy sports minister added, revealing that from the new judicial year (next September) the two ministries’ program to tackle juvenile delinquency will be extended nationwide.

Stating that “the values of sport are unique: Solidarity, comradeship, fair play”, Vroutsis argued that “this whole framework of sports values will come to be embraced by these children”.

What he said about cameras in stadiums and the Peace and Friendship Stadium

Asked about the progress of the measure on cameras in stadiums, the deputy minister of Sports said that “the measures have succeeded” adding that “this is the first time that a sports law is coming to deal with violence, which they see the positive imprint now in the stadiums of both football and basketball, but also the entire sports world.”

Regarding the basketball court of the Peace and Friendship Stadium and whether it will be given to Olympiacos, he replied that after the necessary discussions, “the Peace and Friendship Stadium will go fairly to Olympiacos, as it did to Panathinaikos,” announcing that there will be announcements very soon.