Thesis (M.A. (Social Work)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / Anger Management is now a major issue affecting children and youth across societies. It often leads children and youth to criminal offences. Despite attending the anger management programme, children and youth still fail to control their emotions. There are various factors that lead them unable to control their anger-triggering situations and ultimately re-offend. Some do so because they did not benefit from the programme. There are few studies, particularly within the anger management programmes tailored for children and youth in South Africa. This study aimed at exploring the anger management programme. The study argues that the anger management programme has an influence on the re-offending behaviour of children and youth who have gone through the programme. The study focused in Limpopo Province using Mankweng area as a case. Behaviour Modification, Social Learning and Strain were used as theories to evaluate the effectiveness of the anger management programme amongst children in conflict with the law. The study applied the qualitative approach, with the exploratory case study design. Purposive and convenient sampling techniques were used to select thirteen (13) respondents, wherein ten (10) were youth who have gone through the anger management programme while they were still children, and three (3) social workers who facilitate the programme at NICRO in Mankweng. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, guided by an interview schedule with open-ended questions. The Nvivo software was used to organise and manage the data, and Creswell’s steps of data analysis were used to thematically analyse the data. The findings of this study indicate that lack of anger management skills amongst children increases the likelihood of juvenile delinquency. These children act aggressively and violently when faced with anger-triggering situations. The study further revealed that peer-relationship, poor parenting skills, family background, lack of support, abusive parents and strenuous predicaments are factors that affect children and youth to manage their anger, leading to re-offending. Despite attending the anger management programme, these factors still pushed children and youth into committing criminal offences again. This study unearthed that the competency of the anger management programme facilitators equally plays an important role in recidivism. It helps children to benefit from ways of dealing with anger and avoid being aggressive and violent. The study further viii revealed that most youth participants in the study understood what the programme seeks to address and achieve. Participants benefitted from the programme, and it was easy for them to learn about anger management, and never reoffended. The study concluded that children who lack anger management skills are likely to commit criminal offences again. Factors such peer-relationship, poor parenting skills and strenuous predicaments affect the ability of children and youth to manage anger emotions. It was further concluded that abusive parents, family background and lack of support also cause the reoffending behaviour amongst children and youth. Facilitators’ competency and children’s challenges in understanding the programme affect the impact of the programme to prevent criminal behaviour. The study recommended proper assessments of children’s circumstances, involvement of peers and parents, training of social workers who offer the anger management programme and supplementary programmes to support the programme.

This research analyzed all juveniles involved in a homicide, both victims and offenders, in the city of Dallas, Texas from the years 1988 through 1997. This study addressed several research questions including the identification of risk factors common to both victims and offenders. Data for this study was obtained from the homicide files of the Dallas Police Department. The findings in part identify specific profiles of the victims and offenders, as well as identifying comparisons of risk factors between the two groups. Also identified are the relationships between the offenders and victims. Conclusions from this research present implications for law enforcement agencies, as well as furthering the etiology of juvenile homicide.

Although interpersonal violence is the leading cause of nonnatural death among adolescents in South Africa, research is limited. This thesis examined homicides among adolescents (15-19 years) in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, during the period 2001 to 2009. It aimed to describe the incidence and epidemiology; depict the situational contexts based on victim, offender and event characteristics, and to develop a situational typology of adolescent homicides; and to identify the structural factors associated with neighbourhood levels of adolescent homicide within the city. Four separate studies were conducted using data from the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (NIMSS), police case records, and Census 2001. The results revealed an average annual homicide rate of 23.4/100 000, with firearm homicides decreasing considerably over the study period, while homicides due to sharp instruments and blunt force increased. The epidemiological results highlighted the vulnerability of male, and black and coloured adolescents. The typological analysis identified three categories of adolescent homicide, namely: 1) male victims killed by strangers during a crime-related event; 2) male victims killed by a friend/acquaintance during an argument; and 3) female victims killed by male offenders, and indicates the need for multiple and focused prevention strategies. Alcohol use was also prevalent, with 39% of the victims tested having positive blood alcohol concentrations (BAC). The characteristics found to be associated with alcohol-related homicides, specifically, male victims killed with sharp instruments in public places, over the weekends and during the evenings, and by a friend/acquaintance draw attention to both the harmful pattern of intoxication-oriented drinking and the risky situational contexts in which adolescents consume alcohol. Finally, the results also showed that the incidence of male and female adolescent homicides was greater in neighbourhoods characterised by poverty and deprivation, while female adolescent homicides were also higher in neighbourhoods marked by high concentrations of households where children were not living with their parents. Overall the results point to the urgent need for a comprehensive prevention strategy that targets adolescents, their families and communities, and also addresses weapon availability, alcohol use, and issues of masculinity and gender to reduce homicides among adolescents. / D. Litt et Phil. (Psychology)

Although interpersonal violence is the leading cause of nonnatural death among adolescents in South Africa, research is limited. This thesis examined homicides among adolescents (15-19 years) in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, during the period 2001 to 2009. It aimed to describe the incidence and epidemiology; depict the situational contexts based on victim, offender and event characteristics, and to develop a situational typology of adolescent homicides; and to identify the structural factors associated with neighbourhood levels of adolescent homicide within the city. Four separate studies were conducted using data from the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (NIMSS), police case records, and Census 2001. The results revealed an average annual homicide rate of 23.4/100 000, with firearm homicides decreasing considerably over the study period, while homicides due to sharp instruments and blunt force increased. The epidemiological results highlighted the vulnerability of male, and black and coloured adolescents. The typological analysis identified three categories of adolescent homicide, namely: 1) male victims killed by strangers during a crime-related event; 2) male victims killed by a friend/acquaintance during an argument; and 3) female victims killed by male offenders, and indicates the need for multiple and focused prevention strategies. Alcohol use was also prevalent, with 39% of the victims tested having positive blood alcohol concentrations (BAC). The characteristics found to be associated with alcohol-related homicides, specifically, male victims killed with sharp instruments in public places, over the weekends and during the evenings, and by a friend/acquaintance draw attention to both the harmful pattern of intoxication-oriented drinking and the risky situational contexts in which adolescents consume alcohol. Finally, the results also showed that the incidence of male and female adolescent homicides was greater in neighbourhoods characterised by poverty and deprivation, while female adolescent homicides were also higher in neighbourhoods marked by high concentrations of households where children were not living with their parents. Overall the results point to the urgent need for a comprehensive prevention strategy that targets adolescents, their families and communities, and also addresses weapon availability, alcohol use, and issues of masculinity and gender to reduce homicides among adolescents. / D. Litt et Phil. (Psychology)

Women and young people who have experienced domestic violence view themselves through an abuse-dominated lens, causing thin descriptions of themselves. Research was undertaken with seven women and eleven young people to explore how they had experienced domestic violence and to co-author and co-construct new stories of identity. This research addressed how a narrative pastoral approach guides therapeutic conversations with people who have experienced domestic violence. A narrative approach has at its heart the notion of decentred practice and an ethic of care. Reflective letters after each group meeting played a central part of the research. The letters were structured to tell the alternative stories emerging during and between sessions. These stories were told and retold and in each telling the women artd young people experienced alternative views of self and joined others in this re-writing. Participants spontaneously continued to meet beyond the completion of the research / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

Women and young people who have experienced domestic violence view themselves through an abuse-dominated lens, causing thin descriptions of themselves. Research was undertaken with seven women and eleven young people to explore how they had experienced domestic violence and to co-author and co-construct new stories of identity. This research addressed how a narrative pastoral approach guides therapeutic conversations with people who have experienced domestic violence. A narrative approach has at its heart the notion of decentred practice and an ethic of care. Reflective letters after each group meeting played a central part of the research. The letters were structured to tell the alternative stories emerging during and between sessions. These stories were told and retold and in each telling the women artd young people experienced alternative views of self and joined others in this re-writing. Participants spontaneously continued to meet beyond the completion of the research / M. Th. (Practical Theology)