Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management Sciences: Public Management (Peacebuilding), Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / The retributive justice system has been used in most parts of the world aimed at rehabilitating, deterring and incapacitating offenders. High prison rates reveal that the retributive justice system has not been too effective when it comes to reducing recidivism and addressing causes of crime. The system makes offenders to be accountable to the state, while victims of crime are left out of the picture. Family members of offenders, who are the secondary victims, are also closed out of the system, while in essence; they suffer a lot including loss of family members to imprisonment, which affects the family fabric. This research seeks to enhance the restorative justice work with ex-prisoners done by Second Chance Rehabilitation centre. The question that this research seeks to answer is: can restorative justice models have a positive impact on the lives of ex-prisoners and their families? An Action Research paradigm was used during this study. Eleven restorative justice interventions were implemented with a group of twelve ex-prisoners, while four sessions were implemented with ten family members of the ex-prisoners. The findings of this research reveal that, participants attained new knowledge through these interventions, which influenced their attitudes and behaviour about life and relationships. Additionally, the study revealed that human beings are social beings, who can be socialised into doing right, which is a message that should be passed on to policy makers, so they would implement effective rehabilitative processes which will yield transformative results. / D

The purpose of this study was to contextually describe and explore the experiences and challenges of the juvenile offenders and pre-trial diversion officers (PTD) involved in the pre-trial diversion programme (PTD) in the Chitungwiza community. In this study, the qualitative research methodology was applied. Research designs used were explorative, descriptive and contextual of nature. Furthermore, the multi-case studies design within the qualitative approach applied. The non-probability purposive and snow-balling sampling methods were used to select the sample from juvenile offenders and PTD officers who have been involved in the PTD programme. Qualitative data was collected using semi-structured interviews with an open-ended interview guide. The eight steps of Tesch (Creswell, 2009:186) were employed to analyse the data. To demostrate the trustworthiness of the research findings, the researcher used Guba`s model (Krefting, 1991:214-222). The findings of the study established that most children commit criminal offences due to socio-economic reasons and that the pre-trial diversion programme is largely effective in the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders. Recommendations were made for the PTD programme to activate socio-economic interventions and improve resources allocation in order to enhance service delivery. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Work)