C.P.A., this unknown

di Francesca Perone

Key words: juridical route, underage, arrest, relation, hospitality

 

The one about C.P.A. (center of first hospitality for underage people)’s mission is always open, always revisited debate, and lately, in occasion of important procedural changes about the topic of evaluation theme, has been made a further reflection at 360 degrees, concerning both staff, procedures and finalities of the service, both users, in perspective always to maintain, as basic assumption, underage’s centrality.

Before L. 448/88, juvenile criminal proceedings was not so different of adult’s one. Since ’88, instead, the lawyer intended to change point of view, having as end rehabilitation more than amends. Then C.P.A. where born, a first step of juridical route, which offers to underage the opportunity of being subjected to different precautionary measure, not restricted to precautionary custody into jail or house arrest, as adults. Have changed procedural opportunities too, mostly with probation’s inserting.

C.P.A., then, is configured like a filter, a kind of “limbo” between arrest’s event and juridical route’s starting. It’s a structure different to jail too : there aren’t armored doors, there are plainclothes agents; civilian personnel (educators, volunteers, association’s operators for recreational activities) go around into detection sections. Everything in order to not further hurt underage, already shocked by arrest’s event. Indeed, a sense of omnipotence is part of adolescence period, that keeps to negation of reality too. Tutto allo scopo di non turbare ulteriormente il minore, già provato dall’evento arresto. Arrest in configured as sudden realization of the fact that every action has an important consequence; this results upsetting for a guy, that in going around through oxymorons just of that age, don’t reckon with social, legal, moral rules in which his existential path is anyway absorbed.
The shock represented by arrest’s event constellate, anyway, new possibility in psychic life of a subject who , if adequately supported by operators, can just in C.P.A. start a path of changing and review of psychological and relational themes that leaded him to the current situation.
The initial phase of interaction Justice/User that here develops, leaves considerable traces on the going ahead of the whole relation with penal system. It’s possible to observe how an underage who runs across positively a precautionary measure, which respect depends on his responsibility, is already came back in a contest of standards with possibility of experience new adaptations.
In C.P.A. underag e people between 14 and 18 are leaded in state of arrest. After the entrance underage is subject to a series of procedures: search, medical visit, short psychological interview and interview with the educator. An underage cannot stay in C.P.A. for more of 96 hours (four days), in which validation hearing with G.I.P. (Judge for preliminary investigations) is celebrated. The outcome can be: liberation, prescriptions, house permanence, community placement and I.P.M. (penal institute for underage people) placement. The educator has the task to make an interview not concerning juridical facts, but anamnesis, including familiar asset, studies process, sports and news about possible social services and/or medical services involving in exystential underage’s path.
If an arrested underage is substances addict too, during medical visit the doctor calls the Ser.D. (service for pathological addictions) for a consult concerning both detection of urinary metabolites and a psychological interview. Basing on this advice the Judge can orientate himself about which precautionary measure can choose to submit underage. Educator indeed, drawing up the report for the judge, write about it too.
About the last data processed on arrests we could ascertain how arrests for drug dealing are exponentially increased. Some Roma’s areas became Neapolitan underworld’s branch importing the same managing way (boys at the gates).
The enlistment among the pushers rows comes as a promotion to a boy unprovided of a deep sense of self-worth and gives a strong sense of identity, that immediately is made in crisis by arrest evet. C.P.A. is the first place that questions the teenager’s negative identity “in fieri”; this fact represent an important responsibility for operators that to various ways provide service inside it.
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Lots of underage people begins to push just in order to gain easy money, but much others are consumers themselves and reach this way to obtain substances in exchange of their work.
In abuser’s “forma mentis” is often still traceable a preadolescent’s configuration, featured by appropriation’s drive: other is utilized for own ends, is substantially looted and an answer to affective needs is searched in material terms. Substance, indeed, is always available, immediately usable and satisfy any need without asking for exchange in affective terms.
In familiar configurations featured by maybe infallible parents in a cure’s path, of feeding and protection, but lacking in the path of empowerment, is possible to find sons having difficulties to became independent on every path and still living under appropriation’s aegis despite adolescent age. In this young people’s “forma mentis”, indeed, using other’s trend is preeminent, not seeing as another human being, but as an object; this aspect adds deviant exit’s possibility: if subject sees other in a dehumanized way he has no problems to damage it stealing, robing, selling him substances and so on. All this has a prize in psychological terms: lack of emotive contentment coming from a real relational exchange, makes indeed intolerable distresses (often not realized), that easily lead in searching of material facts, as substance, for a paradoxical self-treatment. The one real antidote to substance is relation. Pathological addiction’s therapy, indeed, cannot be regardless of an emotional vocabulary’s acquisition, a relational competence eventually not learned in family, where affective, emotive and relational needs are always changed with material facts and individuation’s process is never encouraged.
In CPA operator’s work is just oriented this way: opening to relation starting by hospitality. Reflection on hospitality in CPA has progressively clarify as this is not limited in entry phase, but goes ahead in whole underage’s permanence into the service. There’s a subjectivity’s recovery of individual, in which user is not only an object of interventions.
Hospitality’s concept is declined in answers to primary needs, in immediacy and clarity of information, in person’s respect in a contest of correct and binding rules for all relation’s actors, in attention to favorite relations with parents, in need’s listening, in an offer of support and references in order to help underage to overcome the conflict born by crime and arrest event lived as catastrophic.
CPA, in this mission, takes a maternal and paternal identity: maternal function decline in all of the hospitality’s and caregiving themes for underage (simple gesture of offering a breakfast with appreciated food to the kid contribute lessening anxiety level making him more collaborative); paternal function consist overall in timetables and rule’s network both in a macroscopic sense (there are times in which is necessary to stay close into the rooms, times for eating, for washing themselves, for waking up, for meeting operators and seeing parents; they can’t make telephone calls and so son), both in a microscopic sense (calling on staff in a polite and respecting way, they can’t use an inappropriate language, and so on). All of this makes CPA a stable walls container, itself yet having a rehabilitative power.

Conclusions:

Foundamental, in a rehabilitative perspective, is an advantageous relation of collaboration between different areas (medical, educational and safety), that play determined roles and are oriented to the same purpose: accompany underage people trough incipient juridical route since entrance till validation hearing so that it makes sense, being not only a loosed time’s fraction which shall be forgotten within existential route, but can be as a starting phase to new possibilities dedicated to acquisition of a values attitude, ethically congruous.

Summary:

Before L. 448/88, juvenile criminal proceedings was not so different of adult’s one. Since ’88, instead, the lawyer intended to change point of view, having as end rehabilitation more than amends. Then C.P.A. where born, a first step of juridical route, which offers to underage the opportunity of being subjected to different precautionary measure, not restricted to precautionary custody into jail or house arrest, as adults. Have changed procedural opportunities too, mostly with probation’s inserting. In CPA operator’s work is oriented to relation starting by hospitality. CPA, in this mission, takes a maternal and paternal identity: maternal function decline in all of the hospitality’s and caregiving themes for; paternal function consist overall in timetables and rule’s network both in a macroscopic sense, both in a microscopic sense. All of this makes CPA a stable walls container, itself yet having a rehabilitative power.

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