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.

An analysis of the effects of resocialization programming on juvenile offender resiliency levels was conducted with 220 juveniles committed to a maximum security facility. Data were examined on the subjects' age, race/ethnicity, length of time at the facility, level of resocialization, and resiliency score. The resocialization programming contains cognitive and social components that would be instrumental in augmenting juvenile offender resiliency levels. Analysis of the variables did not show a significant increase in juvenile offender resiliency levels. The results did display that students who were at the facility longer and who were in the older age groups had higher levels of resocialization.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was one of the most widely used psychological tests administered to adolescents. The MMPI-A is a revised version of the MMPI that was developed specifically for adolescents. The purpose of this study is to establish clinical correlates for the MMPI-A standard scale codetypes.

TAT stories and demographic information of 30 violent and 30 nonviolent juvenile delinquents were obtained. Institutional assessment records at Dallas County Juvenile Department (DCJD) served as the data base for this study. TAT stories and demographic information of 30 violent and 30 nonviolent juvenile delinquents were obtained. Institutional assessment records at Dallas County Juvenile Department (DCJD) served as the data base for this study. Differences with respect to object relations functioning between juveniles charged with two categories of index offenses: property offenses and aggravated assault were examined. Object relations were assessed utilizing a scoring system designed for use with the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). The scoring system encompasses a psychoanalytic perspective and consists of four dimensions representing separate but interrelated aspects of object relations. It was hypothesized that juvenile delinquents who commit violent crimes would exhibit lower object relations functioning as compared to juvenile delinquents who commit nonviolent crimes.

No description available.

The link between child welfare and juvenile justice is well established, with over forty years of research that focuses on the increased risk of delinquency associated with child maltreatment. However, with over 700,000 children in the United States being victims of abuse and/or neglect in 2010 (DHHS, 2011), it is important to continue investigating this connection. Few studies are able to identify the same youth in both systems, therefore this study provides the unique opportunity using child welfare and juvenile justice administrative data from Oregon, to compare juvenile offenders that have been in the child welfare system, otherwise known as "Crossover" youth, to Non-Crossover juvenile offenders. The study attempted to examine if Crossover youth differ in terms of demographics, as well as if they committed offenses with higher severity scores than Non-Crossover youth. It also investigated whether an individual's status as a child welfare youth impact processing decisions in the juvenile justice system. Results indicate that Crossover youth have a higher percentage of females, African Americans, and are significantly younger. Crossover youth also have higher severity scores than non-crossover youth, and have a higher percentage of more intense adjudicated delinquent sanctions. Limitations of these findings and suggestions for further research are discussed.

In the last decade, it has been recognized that juveniles commit as much as 20% of all sexual offenses in the United States (DOJ, 2004). Research that attempts to understand why young people commit sex crimes points to an array of family factors that may uniquely contribute to the development of sexual offending over and above general juvenile delinquency. This study specifically examines disrupted caregiving, or receiving insufficient or substitute care, as a potential moderator in the relationship between offense status and caregiver-child relationship quality. Four distinct moderators were tested: gender of caregiver, biological relationship between caregiver and child, number of times the youth has changed caregivers, and child maltreatment history. Results indicate that juvenile sexual offenders have particularly poor relationships with their primary caregivers, and that caregiver gender, biological relationship between caregiver and child, and child maltreatment history act as moderators. Thus, while juvenile sexual offenders in general have poor relationships with their caregivers, those with male caregivers and those who have experienced physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect, have relationships that are even worse. In contrast, sexual offenders raised by non-biological caregivers showed better relationship quality than did youth raised by their biological parents. These findings suggest opportunities for early intervention, before caregiving is disrupted. Furthermore, additional supports may be offered to youth whose family structures suggest that they may be at increased risk.

Juvenile justiceAdministration ofNew South Wales.Juvenile delinquentsRehabilitationThis study examines the process of Youth Justice Conferencing in New South Wales within the context of the theory and aims of the restorative justice movement. Analysis of relevant literature and theory suggests that restorative justice is a broad and encompassing movement that entails a decision making process where victims, communities and offenders come together in a joint response to an offence. Although this breadth has allowed and encouraged a proliferation of programs that respond to particular needs and particular demands of culture and social context, the consequence is that both understandings and practices of restorative justices are variable. When theoretical understandings are so varied there will necessarily be a lack of commonality in the way principles are articulated. If practice is not linked directly to principled theory it is inevitable that processes will be vulnerable at all levels to the interaction between context, situations and participant characteristics that may easily deflect the focus from the true purpose of restorative justice. This thesis attempts to clarify the restorative principles relevant to the NSW program with reference to Braithwaite and Pettit???s republican theory (1990) and their notion of dominion. In turn these principles are used to identify five practical elements to be used as a framework to guide youth conferences. Such a framework highlights potential areas for improvement in conference preparation and practice. A case study approach was used to collect data and involved the observation of eighty five Youth Justice Conferences in three New South Wales conferencing regions. As well, one hundred and fifty two currently practising Youth Justice Conferencing practitioners (Police, Conveners, Managers) in New South Wales completed a mail out questionnaire. Findings from the study suggest that conference processes are influenced by the presence or absence of five particular elements: the attendance of victims, the attendance of communities, the attendance of offender support, reparation to victims, communities and offenders and the experience of non-domination during the conference space. However, findings also suggest that ???situational??? factors may mediate these key elements to enhance or compromise the overall process. This thesis suggests that many of the issues arising in NSW conferences result from the failure to articulate the links between restorative justice theory and practice. While in NSW such links may intentionally have been unarticulated in order to encourage a freedom within the process, in reality the lack of clarification has led to a freedom in discretion that sometimes diminishes the chance of success. Therefore it proposes the need for a more articulated translation of theory into principles that will in turn frame practice. In this way the thesis uses the normative theory proposed by Braithwaite and Pettit (1990) to provide an explanatory and ideal framework for best practice in NSW Youth Justice Conferencing.

The youth justice family group conference (FGC) is a statutory decision making process whereby the young person, their family/whanau, state officials and the victim of the offence come together to decide on a response to offending by that young person. The FGC is an integral part of the youth justice system, involving thousands of young people and their families each year. There is a considerable amount of literature available on the youth justice FGC, most notably in regard to the purported restorative justice nature of the process. However, for a legal process which involves so many young people on a daily basis, there is little information available on the due process rights of young people in the FGC. This thesis seeks to remedy this gap in the research knowledge. Firstly, this thesis establishes the theoretical framework for the rights of the young person in the youth justice system. The historical context and theoretical justification for these rights is considered, and the benchmarks for rights coming from international and national human rights standards are identified. A key theoretical issue is the application of rights to the FGC. It is argued that although the FGC differs in format from the adversarial criminal process, it remains a state process involved in resolving a breach of the criminal law, and thus the young person's rights should be safeguarded. Secondly, this thesis evaluates legislation, policy and practice relating to the rights of the young person in the FGC. Three key areas of rights are considered: legal assistance, how the offence is proved, and outcomes of the FGC. Reference is made to practice examples derived from observation of the FGC in two centres in New Zealand. Finally, as the FGC is certain to remain an integral part of the youth justice system, recommendations are made as to how legislation and practice could be improved to better safeguard the rights of young people in this process.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2006. / Title from title page screen, viewed on April 22, 2007. Dissertation Committee: Mark Swerdlik, Matthew Hesson-McInnis (co-chairs), Adena Meyers, Kathryn Hoff, Raymond Redick. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-113) and abstract. Also available in print.