After years of research and training, IPS shared the INTEGRA project’s achievements in radicalisation prevention with practitioners working in the Portuguese justice system.
The INTEGRA project (Integrated Community, Probation and Prison Services Radicalisation Prevention Approach) responds to a pressing need declared by the European Union: to tackle radicalisation in the wake of the terrorist threat on European soil. Due to its importance and relevance, namely in the criminal justice system, and the key value of prevention and information on a societal level, the project conducted efforts to disseminate its work and products.
The products achieved by the consortium during the project’s lifespan gather the most recent, trustworthy and effective information, expertise and empirical knowledge, in order to guide an integrated approach to preventing radicalisation in the prison, probation and community contexts:
- The State of the Art captured a national and European image of existing theory and practise on preventing radicalisation, leading to violent extremism, deradicalisation and disengagement practices in the criminal justice context.
- The Risk and Needs Assessment product aimed to identify and assess the needs of the stakeholders involved in the process of tacking radicalisation leading to violent extremism inside and outside prisons.
- The project has also developed a Mentoring Model and Programme for community mentors to provide social support, disengagement opportunities, and help build trust-based relationships, for example, with staff, community members, and NGO professionals.
- Moreover, the INTEGRA project implemented a radicalisation prevention training programme for prisons, probation and community and created a multiagency cooperation guide for the effective implementation and follow-up of deradicalisation/disengagement/rehabilitation programmes.
The IPS_Innovative Prison System team shared those project outputs with Portuguese researchers, law enforcement agents, community members and university students at an online seminar on December 11, 2020.
Participants thus had the opportunity to understand the project and its results and to discuss and ask questions, not only about the project itself but also about the problem that the project addresses.
The other partners of the INTEGRA project also carried out this dissemination activity in their respective countries to publicize the project, its products and conclusions.
To learn more about the INTEGRA project, please navigate to this page or visit the project’s website.