ZANG Armenian Legal Socialization Project, a project funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and implemented by Project Harmony since August 2003, establishes groundwork for collaboration among educators and law enforcement professionals who work with youth and encourages cooperative partnerships among them for further positive change in areas of public safety, crime prevention, and civic society development. Specifically, ZANG develops and implements legal education curricula in schools, and pilots community justice centers in Armenia, raising broader community awareness about juvenile justice issues.

Legal Education Curriculum

The ZANG “Legal Mosaic” curriculum has been developed and implemented in 140 schools across all 11 regions of Armenia. Participants in the program’s training of trainers’ workshops and professional exchange programs trained additional educators and law enforcement professionals to implement this curriculum. Based on the strengths and results of the “Legal Mosaic” curriculum for 8-9th grade students, a new curriculum entitled “My Social Surrounding and I” was developed for middle school students.

Goal of “Legal Mosaic” course is supporting knowledge and promoting justice.

• Equip youth with legal information and civil skills.
• Develop knowledge and abilities to live and be oriented in a civil society.
• Present the role and importance of law enforcement authorities in a country.
• Promote cooperation between police and teachers.

• The State and a Juvenile
• The Law and a Juvenile
• Harmful Habits
• A Juvenile on the Street

The “My Social Surrounding and I” ” curriculum consists of a teachers’ manual and a student workbook. The curriculum facilitates understanding and skill-building in the key areas of:

• self-knowledge and self-assessment
• regulating personal emotions
• pro-social behavior
• behavior management and adaptation to one’s social environment; and
• the importance of rule of law as a condition for living in a civil society

The “My Social Surrounding and I” curriculum has been piloted in 80 schools in 2007. Based on the results of the pilot phase, it was revised and it is anticipated that a greater number of schools will implement the “My Social Surrounding and I” curriculum in 2008.

To expand the reach of the legal education curriculum, community-based workshops and participatory classes are held at ZANG schools involving students, parents and other community members. The parent engagement and community outreach raise the awareness of the broader community about juvenile justice issues and encourage civic engagement.

Community Justice Centers

Beginning in August 2006, ZANG piloted Community Justice Centers (CJC) in two Armenian communities: one in the Health and Education Armenian Center in Yerevan and the other in the Vanadzor Police Department. Due to the success of this initiative, in September 2007, ZANG established two additional CJCs located at the "Leonardo Gmur" Child Protection Social Fund Center in Gyumri and the Family Assistance Center of Alaverdi. The CJC project is implemented in close collaboration with Armenian Police within the framework of the Armenian National Program for Child Protection of Juvenile Police.

The Community Justice Centers provide restorative justice responses to youth responsible for non-violent crimes with the full support and engagement of parents and community members. Restorative justice includes the following:

• It is a different way of thinking about crime and our response to it.
• It focuses on the harm caused by crime: repairing the harm done to victims and communities and reducing future harm by preventing crime.
• It requires offenders to take responsibility for their actions and for the harm they have caused.
• It seeks redress for victims, recompense by offenders and reintegration of both within the community.
• It is achieved through a cooperative effort by communities and government (peace and order).

The CJCs also support partnerships among coordinated systems of law enforcement, juvenile service programs and the community in order to increase public safety and reduce crime. In 2008, Project Harmony will strengthen and enhance existing CJC services and plans to extend the Community Justice Center infrastructure to other regions of Armenia.

Legal socialization is the process of learning attitudes, ideas, and behaviors. The process of Socialization of American Law started in the United States during the first part of the 20th century. The goal of this process was to cultivate a culture of rights and duties as expressed in a democratic constitution and protected by the rule of law. As James O. Finckenauer states, people's views of law enforcement are mostly determined by their views of the police. One of the most important products of legal socialization is legal reasoning. There are many reasons why the rules should be followed. Finckenauer groups these reasons into three levels: At the law-obeying level the rules are followed mainly to avoid sanctions. At the law-maintaining level the rules are followed largely because they are considered fair and with high moral values. At the law-making level fairness and morality of the law could be questioned that may lead to a social change. Accordingly, the teaching of law has different levels of impact: Knowledge of law decreases the chance of breaking it due to ignorance Knowledge of law increases the awareness of its consequences Knowledge of law increases moral support of the law The latter level of impact is the essence of legal socialization. In order to increase moral support of the law, the process of legal socialization should start at school. V. V. Kozhubovskij exposes different ways of presenting legal socialization to youth. He talks about school games, discussions, excursions, involvement of outside resource persons, and analysis of illustrative case studies. Finckenauer supports the same idea of interactive teaching and structures it into three distinct methods of teaching: Sharing information in the form of lectures, films, workshops, etc. Challenging the norms by role-playing, simulation, moot courts, and conflict resolution. Empowering students by making them active participants in resolving real dilemmas and problems. References: Finckenauer, J. (1998). "Legal socialization: concepts and practices." Civnet's Journal for Civil Society, 2.1 (http://www.civnet.org/journal/issue5/ftjfinck.htm) Kozhubovskyj, V. V. (2002). "To the issue of legal socialization of under-age" Social Work in Ukraine and Abroad, http://www.quarterly.uz.ua/3/5e.html

Project Harmony Project Harmony is a Vermont-based, internationally focused, non-profit organization. Project Harmony has a rich history of working with educators, police and youth in the Former Soviet Union. Project Harmony builds strong communities by fostering civic leadership, harnessing Internet technology and facilitating cross-cultural experiential learning. Over the past ten years, Project Harmony has developed a number of law-enforcement training models that have led to significant inroads in Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia in addressing such critical issues as domestic violence, juvenile drug abuse, community-policing strategies, trafficking of women, and others. For more information, visit www.projectharmony.org. Project Harmony was established in Armenia in the fall of 2000 to pilot the Internet Community Development in the Caucasus Program, and to implement a US State Department technology grant Armenia Connectivity 2000. The latter was renewed and implemented through 2007 as the Armenia Schools Connectivity Program (ASCP). While Project Harmony - Armenia has gained a reputation for its work bringing technology into the secondary education systems, from its early days Project Harmony - Armenia has stayed true to the PH mission in community involvement and empowerment. For more information, visit: www.projectharmony.am. Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs The Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the US Department of State, advises the President, Secretary of State, other bureaus in the Department of State, and other departments and agencies within the U.S. Government on the development of policies and programs to combat international narcotics and crime. INL's international programs focus on law enforcement and interdiction capabilities, criminal justice system reform, eradication of drug crops, and alternative development. Programs in Russia and the NIS focus on countering public corruption and organized crime, combating money laundering and financial crimes, and border security, including combating smuggling of drugs and people. For more information, visit www.state.gov/g/inl.