On June 5, 2012 GLSP hosted a sum-up meeting for pilot program of teaching legal culture among 7th-grade students. The meeting was attended by teachers and police officers conducting the mentioned studies in 10 schools in Tbilisi and Rustavi, school principals, GLSP representatives, Lia Gigauri , program expert and Maka Peradze, the representative of Internal Affairs of Georgia.

As a part of School Component, GLSP founded Peer Clubs of Legal Education in March 2012. The project aimed at preventing juvenile crime through raising awareness of juveniles on bulling, domestic violence, bad habits, antisocial behavior and school discipline.
At the initial stage, two Clubs were established in Tbilisi Public School #136 and Rustavi Public School #10. Each of them involved 20 9th and 10th grade students who had previously attended Legal Culture classes and had some knowledge on the related issues.

This year 20 new schools will join the Georgian Legal Socialization Program, thus increasing the total number of participating schools to 80. The schools were selected in Tbilisi as well as in other cities (Marneuli, Gori, Samtredia, Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki) and covered Georgian population together with the representatives of ethnical minorities, which constitutes to one of the top priorities of the program.

In November and December, 2011 GLSP conducted trainings on delivery of newly developed manual “Introduction to Legal Culture” for teachers, police officers and school wardens of the selected schools of Rustavi and Tbilisi. The mentioned manual will be delivered to the students from thirty 7th grade classes of 10 schools.

On December 7-9, 2011 GLSP staff organized a three-day training workshop for the school-based Disciplinary Committees. The workshop was attended by the representatives of seven Disciplinary Committees from Tbilisi and Rustavi public schools and school wardens working in the selected schools. GLSP experts Giorgi Gakheladze, Lia Giagauri and GLSP program manager served as trainers and facilitators of the workshop.

One of the most important components of Legal Socialization Program of Georgia is the Legal Culture Classes conducted at schools jointly by the police representative and Civil Education teacher. The classes aim to contribute to crime prevention through raising students’ awareness in legal issues.

In October 2011 GLSP organized the trainings for ethnic minority teachers and police officers who will conduct lessons in Legal Culture in Public Schools of Marneuli and Samtskhe-Javakheti Region.

On October 13-16, 2011 GLSP conducted 3-day training for law enforcement officers and teachers that enrolled in the program this year. Ten law enforcement officers, fifteen civic education teachers and two school principals from Gori and Samtredia participated in the training.

One of the components of Legal Socialization Program, “Social Media at Schools” is to offer students an updated program. This direction of Legal Socialization Program was first launched last year and achieved significant success. However, considering the experience acquired so far, the program content was updated and now is available for new students as well as for winners of last year bloggers competition.

In 2010, in the framework of the Legal Socialization Program mediators were trained for the Juvenile Diversion and Mediation Program of Ministry of Justice of Georgia. After the training the mediators were able to gain significant experience through 1-year practical work. Subsequently, with the joint effort of Ministry of Justice of Georgia and Legal Socialization Program, the mediators were invited for the working meeting on July 1, 2011, aiming to evaluate the results achieved, share experience and work out recommendations for future work.

The meeting participants included mediators from Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi, social workers of the diversion program, staff of the Legal Socialization Program – Ms. Tinatin Ebanoidze and Ms. Nina Gogoladze, and representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia – Mr. Andro Gigauri, Ms. Rusudan Mikhelidze and Mr. Tamaz Akhobadze.

In line with the sharing of the experience, the meeting contributed to working out the recommendations for improvements of the Juvenile Diversion and Mediation Program. The meeting participants designed future action plans, including the necessity to define clear criteria for selecting mediators and improving communication between all the parties involved.