In recent years, youth offending has become the subject of widespread public interest and over the past few decades, various child reform movements have taken place. Child justice reform efforts focus on children’s reintegration into their families and communities and the enhancement of prospects for a crime-free life in the future. It is a system that focuses on holding children responsible through restorative justice approaches. The Child Justice Act (75 of 2008) seeks to achieve this balance by reflecting societal concerns and responding reflectively and proportionately to children in the criminal justice system. The Act is based on restorative justice principles and provides the framework for a criminal justice system specifically geared to deal with youth offenders. Section 2 of the Act makes specific provisions for the diversion of children away from the criminal justice system to suitable reintegrative and rehabilitative diversion programmes. Currently diversion programmes are aimed at the youth, with minimal input required from parents and family members. While much has been written and researched about how dysfunctional families can contribute to children turning to crime, the role of parents and families more generally in preventing repeat offending and misbehaviour is under-researched. There is also a dearth of research on the implementation and outcomes of diversion programmes and more specifically on the role of the family before, during, and after the diversion process. An intriguing issue is how parents of children attending a diversion programme view their child’s offending behaviour, the diversion process itself, their involvement in the process, and ways that can be introduced to improve and/or increase their level of involvement. The study found that the majority of the children benefitted from the programme in terms of positive behaviour change and preventing reoffending. Parents who had supported their children during the course of the programme tended to have better relationships with their children, and were able to sustain the outcomes of the programmes more efficiently. This study concludes by making recommendations in respect of how restorative justice values and principles can be adequately incorporated and enhanced through the participation of all children in conflict with the law in Family Group Conferencing. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

M.A. (Counselling Psychology) / The aim of this study is the development of a therapeutic programme on self empowerment for the psychological rehabilitation and development of juvenile offenders at Ekuseni. This programme will form part of the overall holistic rehabilitation and development model for the students at Ekuseni.

M.A. (Clinical Social Work) / This study is the result of the necessity for a social work juvenile programme for sentenced juveniles that is need-orientated. The researcher formulated the following objectives in order to reach the abovementioned goal: • to do a literature survey of the juvenile transgressor in order to form a better understanding of the sentenced juvenile. • to identify the distinctive needs of sentenced juveniles by means of a needs evaluation. • to develop a need-orientated social work juvenile programme. • to present above-mentioned social work juvenile programme to sentenced juveniles. • to evaluate the social functioning of sentenced juveniles who attended the programme by means of pre- and post measurement. In meeting the challenge to develop a technological item the researcher used the Developmental Research and Utilization Model of Edwin Thomas 1981. A social work juvenile programme for sentenced juveniles has been developed as a technological item by means of this research project. Chapter one is devoted to the problem statement. motivation for study. Formulation of the goal research design and the description of concepts. Chapter two comprises of the application of the analytical phase of the research study within the framework of the developmental research and utilisation model of E. Thomas 1981. Chapter three deals with the technological development of the social work juvenile programme and in chapter four the whole programme is evaluated. Chapter five contains the inferences made and the recommendations of the research project. During evaluation of the programme the study shows that there is no significant statistical difference between the pre- and post test counts of the satisfaction and synthesis scales, as measured by means of the Heimler scale. However. there is a significant statistical difference between the pre - and post test count of the frustration scale. The technological item developed during this study, i.e. a need-orientated social work juvenile programme for sentenced prisoners, contributed to the development of social work technology.

D.Ed. / The number of learners sentenced at the children's court and criminal court to reformatory and industrial schools increase annually. The nature of the offences by children is becoming more serious. Today offences like armed robbery, murder, rape and dealing in drugs are common, as opposed to a few years ago when offences like aggressive behaviour, shoplifting, and refusal to do homework or attend school were the norm in these cases. Learners who are sentenced to reformatory and industrial schools must be rehabilitated. This implies that these schools should have a rehabilitation programme in place. The researcher is the manager responsible for reformatory and industrial schools in the Mpumalanga Department of Education. It is in this capacity the researcher noted that these schools do not have suitable rehabilitation programmes available for these learners. The aim of the research was to establish themes to be included in rehabilitation programmes for reformatory and industrial schools. The research design is qualitative, explorative and descriptive. The research method is divided into three phases. The first phase applied a situational analysis to establish the themes of the rehabilitation programme. In phase two the information obtained was organised into categories and subcategories. The following main themes were identified: • problematic view of the self; • problematic view of parents of the learner; and • problematic view of the future. The third was to develop a rehabilitation programme and implement it at the reformatory and industrial schools in the Mpumalanga Province. The development of the programmes was based on the developmental approach. This approach ensures that the focus is placed on the strong positive aspects of the learner during the rehabilitation programme. The learners develop skills to identify their own problems and to solve the identified problems. The aim of the rehabilitation programme is to achieve the following: • the learner must demonstrate an understanding of his/her problematic situation; • the learner must form new meanings; • reformulation of norms and values need to take place; and • self-acceptance and a focus on the future must take place. For the successful implementation of the rehabilitation programme the researcher acts as the provincial coordinator. A provincial multidisciplinary team consisting of the following people assists the provincial coordinator: principlas from reformatory and industrial schools and the psychologist of each school. The personnel members of each school are utilised as facilitators of the rehabilitation programme. The rehabilitation programme is presented to groups of learners. Techniques like story telling, dramatisation, group work, competitions, and games are used in this programme. The learner starts the rehabilitation programme the day he/she is admitted to the school. The programme is complete when the learner is rehabilitated and ready to be placed back in the community. This occurs when he can accept himself and is able to strive towards realistic future expectations and success.

M.A.

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This research practicum is an outcome study of the Specialized Out-of-Home Care project (S.O.H.C.). The project, administered by the Oregon Children's Services Division, was designed to provide alternative care resources to specifically meet the needs of Portland's juvenile target offenders, who required out-of-home care. The juvenile offenders accepted into the S.O.H.C. project were between the ages of ten to eighteen, and had been adjudicated for target ctimes. The S.O.H.C. project was federally funded for a twenty-nine month period beginning on May 1, 1974 and extends through September of 1976. This study will include only the clients referred and placed during a one-year period, from July 1, 1974 to June 31, 1975. Additional "up-date" information was collected in October of 1975. A variety of alternative care resources were utilized as placements for the client population. Clients were placed in foster families, group homes, day-care settings and residential centers. This practicum was undertaken as a cooperative effort by four M.S.W. students, of Portland State University's School of Social Work, working conjointly with the S.O.H.C.'s project staff in the over-all evaluation of the project. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact that services provided by the S.O.H.C. project have had on the target population of juvenile offenders.

This thesis includes a proposed program that is designed to provide alternatives for Indian youth, allow for the creation of a residential treatment facility for the diagnosis, placement, and treatment of Indian juvenile delinquents, establish reporting and operating procedures with various courts, and help reduce the delinquent behavior of the resident youth.