Research on the factors underlying sex offender recidivism has not considered the importance of the reintegration process through which the offender rejoins the community after prison. This thesis reports findings from 3 empirical studies designed to explore whether poor release planning might contribute to sex offender recidivism. In Study 1, a coding protocol was developed to measure the comprehensiveness of release planning for child molesters, which included items relating to accommodation, employment, pro-social support, community-based treatment, and Good Lives Model (T. Ward & C.A. Stewart, 2003) secondary goods. The protocol was retrospectively applied to groups of recidivist and nonrecidivist graduates of a prison-based treatment programme, who were matched on static risk level and time since release. As predicted, overall release planning was significantly poorer for recidivists compared to nonrecidivists. Study 2 was a validation and extension of Study 1. The original coding protocol, and some revised items, were applied to matched groups of recidivists and nonrecidivists from a different treatment programme. Consistent with Study 1 findings, overall release planning was significantly poorer for recidivists. Data from Studies 1 and 2 were pooled (total N = 141) and Cox regressions showed that accommodation, employment, and social support planning combined to best predict recidivism, with predictive accuracy comparable to that obtained using static risk models. Study 3 investigated whether release planning was associated with actual reintegration experiences, and additionally explored released child molesters’ good lives plans. Release plans were rated for 16 child molesters, who were interviewed post-release about their reintegration experiences and good lives plans. As predicted, significant positive correlations were found between release planning and reintegration experiences 1 and 3 months following prison release, and results suggested that effective reintegration might help facilitate living a good life. Overall, results from the 3 studies suggest that poor release planning and subsequent reintegration experiences contribute to sex offender recidivism. Implications for researchers, clinicians, policy makers, and community members are discussed.

Abstract  The severe situation of female child soldiers worldwide continues, and the harsh reality they stand in front of once returning back to their communities is often concealed. By the time former female child soldiers begin their journey back to civilian life and a life of dignity, they face various difficulties. Females are often exposed to marginalisation, stigmatisation, discrimination and isolation, and their livelihood and safety tend to be jeopardised. Females are often disregarded and are desperately fighting a battle to become accepted and to receive needed assistance. Since gender roles and gender identities vary around the world and between regions, communities tend to treat females and males very differently. Expectations of females vary depending on structures in communities and therefore communities tend to treat females in a certain way. This study seeks to explore national reintegration strategies in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and how the gap between these strategies and traditional cultural and social expectations of females affect reintegration processes in the country. The complex situation of female child soldiers in the DRC in terms of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR), with particular focus on reintegration is addressed in this thesis. The objective of this study is to analyse to what extent national reintegration strategies in the DRC are adapted to meet the needs of females and their home community. The findings indicate that the national program of DDR in the DRC, the PNDDR, is not aligned with existing cultural and social expectations of females, which have major consequences in reintegration processes. The findings demonstrate that there are many systems which are vital and have to be considered for reintegration to be effective. These systems have to be considered by the PNDDR on a broader level since there are shortcomings in these systems. It is significant to have knowledge about females to be able to streamline DDR processes and once designing programs of DDR. If reintegration of females is unsuccessful, this has negative effects for peace. This study draws on qualitative approaches and a desk study is performed. A created analytical framework taking surrounding environments, child development and social and cultural components into account is used. Keywords: DDR, DRC, Females, Reintegration, Traditional Social Expectations, Traditional Cultural Expectations

This is an explorative study conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of the criminal life by exploring ex-offenders’ stories and analyzing what possible factors could have had an impact on them. The method used was that of semi structured, narrative interviewing and the theories used to analyze and gain a deeper understanding of the results were those of social constructionist theory, differential association theory, and labeling theory. Firstly, the results showed that the combination of the two factors lack of support and attitudes towards delinquent behavior had markedly contributed to the participants’ way into a criminal life and the misuse of drugs. Secondly, the respondents’ all credited some part of their success in reintegrating to the NGO KRIS, which they stated had significantly helped them during their time in and after prison. Thirdly, the respondents’ attitudes towards life seemed to be an important part of being able to both get clean and stay away from the criminal life. However, all of the respondents had experienced some sort of relapse, being it into drugs or crime.

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / A traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) often occurs unexpectedly and causes considerable disability. This condition requires specialized care that is delivered in a time sensitive manner. Data on the incidence, causes, mortality and injury characteristics of TSCI are important for gauging demand for health care and social support services. Unfortunately data on the incidence and causes, as well as functioning such as participation and integration into society, of TSCI are sparse in developing countries such as Tanzania. The overall aim of this study is to determine the incidence, causes, mortality and injury characteristics of TSCI, and to explore the challenges experienced with community reintegration after injury in Tanzania. Both quantitative and qualitative research paradigms were used. The quantitative phase of the study was conducted at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC), a referral and teaching hospital in northern Tanzania. The study population was all patients admitted to KCMC with a TSCI from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2015 (five year period). Quantitative data were collected retrospectively using a data extraction sheet designed by the International Spinal Cord Society which consisted of the following sections: participants’ characteristics (for example age, gender, duration of hospital stay, causes of injury and vertebral injuries) and injury characteristics (location of injury and completeness of injury). Differences between groups (stratified by year) was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The population for the qualitative phase was based on those included in the quantitative phase. Purposive sampling was used to select adults (over the age of 18 years) with TSCI who were managed at KCMC. Qualitative data were collected by means of individual, semi-structured interviews, and lasted until theoretical saturation was achieved. Thematic analysis was used to derive themes (categories) explaining the latent perceptions of community reintegration and its influences.

This thesis sets out to explore the processes of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of female ex-combatants in Sierra Leone within the context of post-conflict peace building. International and local stakeholders including the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), the National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilisation Reintegration (NCDDR) and World Bank were responsible for DDR. The DDR of female adult combatants and girl soldiers was essential as part of the broader strategies to prevent the reoccurrence of violence and creating conditions for sustainable peace and development. It was aimed at transforming female ex-combatants into a civilian status congruent with peace after eleven years of horrific civil war in Sierra Leone that involved rebel forces, principally the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and the government‘s Civil Defence Forces (CDF). The DDR process has been criticized in that female ex-combatants were often invisible and their needs disregarded. This study investigates the role of women in post-conflict peace building efforts, specifically DDR in Sierra Leone. Its nub is to critically assess the design, implementation and impact of the DDR of female ex-combatants. It focuses particularly on how female combatants are affected by current gender, security and international relations discourses. It assesses the progress made by the relevant international and local institutions in implementing international policies and guidelines on the DDR of female ex-combatants, in Sierra Leone; draws wider conclusions about achievements made and suggests lessons that may be applicable widely.

A obra contística de José Rodrigues Miguéis, construída toda ela sob o signo do exílio, traz a marca da ambivalência nas cinco coletâneas publicadas uma a cada década de sua vida literária: Onde a Noite se Acaba (1946), Léah e Outras Histórias (1958), Gente da Terceira Classe (1962), Comércio com o Inimigo (1973) e Pass(ç)os Confusos (1982, póstuma). O tempo convulso e o espaço de desfazimentos que permeiam a diegese projetam, à luz da teoria de Bakhtin desenvolvida em Questões de Literatura e de Estética (A Teoria do Romance), configurações cronotópicas capazes de suscitar a imagem do estrangeiro em busca de um lugar de realização. É pela porta dos cronotopos que se vê o ciclo desventurado do sujeito migueisiano, cuja sina marcada pela viagem-desencontro-agonia irmana-se à dinâmica do exílio social-psicológico-metafísico. Em uma época de tantas guerras e tiranias, onde a realidade do não-lugar contrapõe-se ao sonho da reintegração, ao emigrante desterrado de si mesmo e do mundo resta a memória forte ou a arte para recuperar aquilo que perdeu. Nesse cenário de incertezas o estigma do despertencimento ultrapassa a contingência pessoal dos narradores ou personagens centrais para se tornar um elemento simbólico da condição humana. / The tales of José Rodrigues Miguéis, constructed under the sign of exile, bear the mark of ambivalence in the five collections published once every decade of his literary life: Onde a Noite se Acaba (1946), Léah e Outras Histórias (1958 ), Gente da Terceira Classe (1962), Comércio com o Inimigo (1973) and Pass(ç)os Confusos (1982, posthumous). The convulsive time and space of breakdowns that permeate diegese project, in the light of Bakhtin\'s theory developed in Questões de Literatura e de Estética (A Teoria do Romance), chronotopic configurations capable of eliciting the image of the foreigner in search of a place of achievement. It is through the door of the chronotopes that one sees the unfortunate cycle of the Miguéisian subject, whose fate marked by the trip-disconcert-agony joins the dynamics of social-psychological-metaphysical exile. In a time of so many wars and tyrannies, where the reality of non-place is opposed to the dream of reintegration, fort the emigrant exiled from himself and from the world remains strong memory or art to recover what he lost. In this scenario of uncertainties, the stigma of non-belonging goes beyond the personal contingency of narrators or central characters to become a symbolic element of the human condition.

A obra contística de José Rodrigues Miguéis, construída toda ela sob o signo do exílio, traz a marca da ambivalência nas cinco coletâneas publicadas uma a cada década de sua vida literária: Onde a Noite se Acaba (1946), Léah e Outras Histórias (1958), Gente da Terceira Classe (1962), Comércio com o Inimigo (1973) e Pass(ç)os Confusos (1982, póstuma). O tempo convulso e o espaço de desfazimentos que permeiam a diegese projetam, à luz da teoria de Bakhtin desenvolvida em Questões de Literatura e de Estética (A Teoria do Romance), configurações cronotópicas capazes de suscitar a imagem do estrangeiro em busca de um lugar de realização. É pela porta dos cronotopos que se vê o ciclo desventurado do sujeito migueisiano, cuja sina marcada pela viagem-desencontro-agonia irmana-se à dinâmica do exílio social-psicológico-metafísico. Em uma época de tantas guerras e tiranias, onde a realidade do não-lugar contrapõe-se ao sonho da reintegração, ao emigrante desterrado de si mesmo e do mundo resta a memória forte ou a arte para recuperar aquilo que perdeu. Nesse cenário de incertezas o estigma do despertencimento ultrapassa a contingência pessoal dos narradores ou personagens centrais para se tornar um elemento simbólico da condição humana. / The tales of José Rodrigues Miguéis, constructed under the sign of exile, bear the mark of ambivalence in the five collections published once every decade of his literary life: Onde a Noite se Acaba (1946), Léah e Outras Histórias (1958 ), Gente da Terceira Classe (1962), Comércio com o Inimigo (1973) and Pass(ç)os Confusos (1982, posthumous). The convulsive time and space of breakdowns that permeate diegese project, in the light of Bakhtin\'s theory developed in Questões de Literatura e de Estética (A Teoria do Romance), chronotopic configurations capable of eliciting the image of the foreigner in search of a place of achievement. It is through the door of the chronotopes that one sees the unfortunate cycle of the Miguéisian subject, whose fate marked by the trip-disconcert-agony joins the dynamics of social-psychological-metaphysical exile. In a time of so many wars and tyrannies, where the reality of non-place is opposed to the dream of reintegration, fort the emigrant exiled from himself and from the world remains strong memory or art to recover what he lost. In this scenario of uncertainties, the stigma of non-belonging goes beyond the personal contingency of narrators or central characters to become a symbolic element of the human condition.

This study is based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with six former combatants residing in the Kathorus area, East of Gauteng. The main aim of this study was to explore the challenges facing former combatants after twelve years of democracy. The key findings in the study indicate that many former combatants have not defined their identities beyond the militarised masculine identity they identified with during the conflict on the East Rand and this has resulted in some negative social and psychological consequences for these former combatants. Challenges including stigmatisation from the communities in which they reside, unemployment, trauma, and betrayal also emerge from the findings. In conclusion, the many challenges that former combatants face twelve years into democracy highlight the faults and flaws in the demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration process that occurred post apartheid. Some key recommendations that can be made based from this study relate to processes of future demobilisation and social and economic reintegration.

Thesis (MPA) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / The study investigated the management of the social reintegration programme in the Department of Correctional Services in Mbombela Municipality, Mpumalanga Province. The role played by the stake holders in the programme and the department in rehabilitating and reintegrating the offenders. The purpose is to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme; social acceptance and the application of skills obtained in the correctional facility as a deterrent to committing a further crime. Section 50 of the Correctional Services Act, 1998 (Act No. 111 of 1998); provide the following mandates; the objectives of the study is amongst others to afford sentenced offenders an opportunity to serve their sentences in a non- custodial manner, to enable persons subject to the programme to lead a specially responsible and crime free life during the period of their sentence and in future, to enable offenders to be rehabilitated in a manner that best keeps them as integral part of society and to enable them to be fully reintegrated into society when they have completed their sentences. The investigation is both qualitative and quantitative whereby; it would be descriptive; analytical, interpretive and evaluative. The findings of this study have shown that the majority of offenders do not lead a crime free life after imprisonment. However, Correctional programmes rendered are designed to equip offenders with skills to lead a responsible life on reintegration and also the level at which other stake-holders are involving themselves in the reintegration of offenders in order to reduce reoffending. The recommendations suggest the following as research findings: • Offenders should be equipped with skills that can make them employable and self-sufficient in the outside world. • Offenders should also be monitored even after hours; there must be no specific time of monitoring. • More resources should be channelled to the programme. • Correctional Services should employ the aid of external service providers in order to equip offenders with skills in the community and reduces the chances of reoffending. • External stake-holders should continue rendering programmes to ex-offenders who exited the system.

The intent and direction of this thesis is to recognize personal and social concerns that influence soldiers’ reintegration process. The missing element in current literature is capturing the soldiers’ lived experiences, ideas, perspective and knowledge of what it truly means to be a soldier and having to reintegrate back into the civilian life after being submerged the military culture for an extended period of time. One of the vital concerns to the soldiers is how civilians, specifically the community, politicians, scholars and mental health providers, are not necessary fully aware nor do they recognize the influential impacts of the experiences and environment the military culture has over the soldiers. Soldiers may suffer from depression, anxiety, isolation, alienation, lack of belonging and perceived burdensomeness upon returning home. Previous research often from the civilian point of view expects soldiers to face personal and social concerns, but this research does not allow soldiers to speak for themselves – from their military perspective and lived-experiences. The mission of this thesis, with the support of members of the US Army, is to help bridge the disconnect in communication and the lack of understanding between the two cultures, military and civilian, in order to work together to find a more improved solution on helping soldiers reintegrate processes. The main objective of the mission is to increase our awareness and understanding on who a soldier is, who they develop into and who they become throughout their military career, and how this influences their reintegration journey.