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Yes / In accordance with the United Nations’ requirements for dealing with juvenile offenders, Ghana’s Children Act 1998 mandated local authorities to establish child panels to mediate minor offences committed by children. However, to date there has not been any research that has examined the functioning and effectiveness of the child panels. This research examined the operationalisation and effectiveness of child panels in Ghana. The study involved the use of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with panel members of four local authorities. Findings showed that the child panels are not functioning effectively in Ghana. The relevance of the child panels has been questioned since it was found to be duplicating the roles of some other child welfare agencies. This article discusses the challenges impeding the effectiveness of the child panels and outlines recommendations to improve their effectiveness.

In an attempt to evaluate the impact of vocational education programming on post-release performance, a study was conducted to gather follow-up data on students who were released from the Department of Correctional Education School at Natural Bridge Juvenile Correctional Center (NBJCC) during the 1993 and 1994 calendar years. The population for this descriptive study consisted of 167 males age 17 to 21. Data were successfully collected on 137 members of the population. Findings from the study were as follows: 1. Nearly half of the total study group were employed. 2. Approximately one fourth of the total study group continued their education. 3. Students who earned a vocational education certificate of completion were more likely to be employed than students who earned a lesser vocational certificate of credit or no vocational certificate at all. 4. Students who earned a vocational certificate of completion and a General Education Development (GED) certificate were more likely to be employed than all other NBJCC students. 5. Less than half of all vocational program completors were employed in a field related to their vocational training. 6. Nearly half of all vocational program completors were employed in food service. (Not a field of vocational training at NBJCC) Based on the findings and conclusions in this study, recommendations for policy practice and research in vocational education are provided. / Master of Science

Crimes committed by juvenile offenders are a significant concern of society. In response to this concern, the juvenile justice system addresses juvenile crimes in a developmentally appropriate manner. The goal of the juvenile justice system is to rehabilitate juvenile offenders and steer them from a life of crime and toward becoming productive members of society. Yet, some juvenile offenders continue to offend. While research has explored juvenile offenders’ perceptions of juvenile delinquency, re-entry, and recidivism, less is known about how the detention center prepares juvenile offenders for re-entry. The following study explores the perceptions of detained juvenile offenders in a southeastern detention center regarding how the detention center prepares them to reenter their communities and those efforts on preventing future recidivism. This study reviews how the detention center helps juvenile offenders connect to their communities through the lens of the social bond theory and developmental assets framework. By reviewing the interviews of detained juvenile offenders, the findings of this study contribute to the research literature and encourage future work in this area.

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published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Restorative Juvenile Justice This thesis is dealing with restorative juvenile justice. It aims to summarise and critically discuss this topic. It seeks to classify terms and theory used in order to help its readers with orientation throughout this issue as different terms and theories may often lead to unclarity and confusion. Subsequently it comes to a deeper analysis of selected parts. In particular, it examines international standards, describes thoughts of world-leading experts and eventually compares them and shows them on practical examples. Last but not least, it depicts selected theoretical foundations and draws connection between human life, inherent human nature, and use of restorative justice that is accepted as one of the main arguments for a higher effectivity in comparison to retributive justice. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part deals with juvenile justice, children's rights and relevant international documents. The second part analyses restorative justice in general, compares different points of view and its types, and places it into a broader criminal justice framework. Furthermore, it looks at restorative justice from a more practical perspective by critically addressing the issue and providing practical examples. The third part focuses on the topic of this...

The thesis focused on how the advent of children's rights, in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), has impacted on the subject of juvenile justice and embarked on a practical examination of law reform in this regard in an African context. The focus was placed on a number of African countries that have embarked on or completed child law reform in the aftermath of ratification of the CRC. The case studies in this thesis were Ghana (1998-2003), Kenya (1993-2001), Namibia (1994 to date), Lesotho (2003 to date), South Africa (1997 to date) and Uganda (1992-1996).

In Jordan, residential care institutions (RCIs) for children in conflict with the law are identified as various specialised state institutions which constitute a state formal response to youth crime, and specialise in taking care of children. This thesis examines the objectives of RCIs’ programmes for children in conflict with the law in Jordan, as they attempt to reduce offending by convicted children, and whether these objectives meet children’s needs, according to the view and experiences of children themselves (12-17 years). This study is based on qualitative methods, using data from individual and focus group interviews with institutional staff, and participant observation and individual interviews with children. Exploring the divergent claims made within childhood and youth crime theoretical perspectives, this thesis develops a nuanced understanding of institutions’ crime-reduction programmes by drawing upon key theoretical concepts from these frameworks: children as ‘socially becoming’ and ‘social beings’. RCIs provide four rehabilitative programmes to help reduce children’s problematic and offending behaviour; namely, a family guidance programme (FGP), a poverty reduction programme (PRP), an educational programme (EP) and a child behaviour modification programme (CBMP). To a large extent, these programmes tended to provide polices of crime prevention which focus on re-socialising children according to the normative and cultural system of behaviour in which children were generally perceived as incompetent social actors, and where their best interest was not always acknowledged. To a large extent, children’s own perspectives and experiences of institutional rehabilitative programmes revealed the institutional failure to treat their familial, economical, educational and behavioural problems. Overall, children thought such failure happened either because the institutional aims were not actually implemented, or because the methods of delivering the institutional programmes per se were ineffective. This finding reflects a contradictory picture between the RCIs’ objectives and their actual practices, reflecting the institutional departure from a set of theoretical ideas regarding the prevention of youth crime. Focus group discussion with key informant staff referred to a variety of obstacles that contribute to their inability to address children’s wider needs within the existing institutional aims. Parental refusal to participate in child abuse and supervisory neglect interventional sessions, short-term intervention for chronically abused children and institutional reliance on talking methods in promoting parental supervision over children’s behaviour were all issues hindering effective institutional intervention within the familial environment. The institutional failure to meet children’s educational and career training needs occurred because these programmes are scheduled at the same time. The seriousness of some children’s crimes and the inability of some families to accompany their children to school were other issues preventing children from attending school. The lack of staff motivation, along with staff’s interrelated roles, prevented child monitoring staff from fully carrying out the intended intervention of modifying children’s negative behaviours. Ultimately, the findings from this study indicate the inconsistency between RCIs’ principles of rehabilitating children in conflict with the law and their actual practices, including the lack of policies in place to meet the institutional objectives. This in turn meant that RCIs do not actually operate to rehabilitate children in order to reduce reoffending, but are largely punitive and operate to criminalise children and separate them from society.