Thesis (MEd)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 49 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Orientador: Luís Antônio Francisco de Souza / Resumo: O sistema socioeducativo brasileiro tem experimentado um crescimento significativo no número de jovens cumprindo medidas socioeducativas de internação. Pois, mesmo diante das normativas do Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente e do Sistema Nacional de Atendimento Socioeducativo, que apontam para a internação somente em último caso, as instituições socioeducativas de privação de liberdade se consolidaram no país e em maior número no estado de São Paulo. Desse modo, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo trazer o perfil, a trajetória e as representações dos jovens egressos das unidades socioeducativas da Fundação CASA, sobre o período de cumprimento da medida de internação e da medida socioeducativa em meio aberto de Liberdade Assistida. Como conclusões, a pesquisa aponta que as práticas da antiga FEBEM, ainda permanecem vigentes no cotidiano das unidades masculinas e femininas da Fundação CASA e nas representações dos jovens sobre a instituição. Quando em liberdade, a medida socioeducativa de internação amplia o status positivo dos jovens frente ao crime e o status negativo frente à instituição escolar e ao mundo do trabalho. E, a medida de LA que poderia vir a possibilitar a vivência de outras trajetórias para os jovens inseridos nas medidas socioeducativas, vem se constituindo como uma ampliação da pena, que aumenta a possibilidade de reincidência e de institucionalização. / Abstract: The Brazilian childcare system has experienced significant growth in the number of young people fulfilling educational measures commital. As even before the regulations of the Statute of Children and Adolescents and the National Socio-Educational Services System, which point to the commital only in the latter case, the socio-educational institutions of deprivation of liberty were consolidated in the country and in greater numbers in the state of São Paulo. They can, this research aimed to bring the profile, the trajectory and the representations of young egression of social and educational units of the CASA Foundation, over the period of performance of the detention procedure and socio-educational measures in freedom of probation. As conclusions, the research shows that the practices of the former FEBEM, still remain in force in the daily lives of male and female units of the CASA Foundation and representations of young people on the institution. When released, the socio-educational measure of commital increases the positive status of young people against the crime and the negative status front of the school and the world of work. And the measure of probation that it could enable the experience of other paths for young people entered the educational measures, is becoming as an extension of the sentence, which increases the chance of recurrence and institutionalization. / Mestre

M.A. / Diversion programs were created not only to provide a service to the person in conflict with the law but for society at large. South Africa is faced with a mammoth task of addressing the high crime rate in the country and more importantly to understand the need for these people to commit such crimes. We cannot work in isolation in addressing this global problem. We need to step back and take a look at the holistic picture before we can even conceptualize the aspects of crime. We are now living in an era where children are no more seen as the innocent, naïve angles that we once thought they were. Current day life experiences have thrown most of them into situations that provide them with no choice but to engage in criminal activities. This study is intended to look at the effectiveness of the diversion programs provided, namely Nicro’s diversion program so as to analyze whether it addresses the problem of recidivism. This study will attempt to provide a fresh perspective on some of the dynamics that a child in conflict with the law in this country is faced with. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the diversion program presented by Nicro, Johannesburg. The objectives are as follows: To peruse available literature relevant to the research topic. To collect quantitative data from the assessment reports of the RAR Centres and NICRO. To analyze and present the data in a manner that would allow learning and enhancement of knowledge in terms of children in conflict with the law. The essence of this knowledge would better direct and empower the diversion programs that are provided to children in conflict with the law. To identify the variables that may impact on the success or lack thereof in the diversion program e.g. educational level of offenders, family involvement in the diversion programs and racial classification.

Juvenile Offending is widely believed to be on the increase judging by the growing number of convictions of young offenders in Gauteng Province. Policy and legislation has been renewed to uphold the rights of the child and to provide more humane intervention plans for children in conflict with the law. Appropriate sentencing of young people in conflict with the law remains a significant challenge in the South African Criminal Justice System. The Probation Services Act (Act 116 of 1991) provides for the appointment of probation officers who are responsible for screening, assessing and referring persons awaiting trial. After young offenders are convicted of a crime, a probation officer is required to conduct a pre-sentence investigation and write a pre-sentence report to assist the Magistrates and Judges in making appropriate sentencing decisions. This study aims to assess the usefulness of probation officers / pre-sentence reports in sentencing decisions concerning young offenders in the Criminal Justice System. Probation services are overloaded and understaffed and many social workers have not had adequate training in working in this field. These factors may compromise the quality of the pre-sentence investigation and the consideration of sentencing options. The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of probation officers’ reports in sentencing young offenders in the Criminal Justice System. A representative sample of fifteen magistrates from Johannesburg Courts and the surrounding areas including a judge from the High Court was used for this study. The findings indicated that all the respondents were involved and experienced in sentencing young offenders. ii From the findings of the study, it can be concluded that most of the respondents found the probation officer’s reports useful in terms of the purpose of the pre-sentence investigations, understanding the young offender in his / her family, community and socio-economic and cultural context; the criminal history and profile of the young offender; the probation officer’s evaluation and assessment; and the consideration of appropriate sentencing options. With regard to suggestions to improve the probation officers’ reports the following was suggested by some of the respondents: - - Reports should be compiled and presented to court in time. - A workshop involving probation officers, prosecutors, magistrates and other service providers for young offenders needs to be done. - Probation officers should communicate with the prosecutors so that they get knowledge of the court proceedings regarding the trial. - Probation officers should look at the docket that carries the information regarding the young offender. - If a young offender is detained in a detention centre, probation officers should visit them frequently in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs they are exposed to, for sentencing purposes. The research design was qualitative in nature and an interview schedule was completed for the purpose of data collection. iii The results of this study indicated that the probation officer’s report is useful. The majority of the respondents stated that the probation officer’s report met their expectations. However, not all of them had suggestions regarding guidelines to improve pre-sentence reports, as the existing one covers all the necessary aspects. / Prof. L. Patel

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / Although deficits in object relations patterns have been identified in populations of violent offenders, few studies have examined the object relations of male juveniles incarcerated for violent crimes. The present study examined four dimensions of object relations, as measured by the Thematic Apperception Test and Westen's Social Cognitions and Object Relations Scale with a sample of eight male juvenile offenders incarcerated for violent crimes as De Novo and Eureka Youth Care Centres. These dimensions are complexity of object representations, affect tone of relationship paradigms, capacity for emotional investment in relationships and understanding of social causality. / South Africa

This thesis covers the topic of juvenile diversion with respect to keeping juveniles from progressing further into the justice system as well as keeping them out of prison. It deals with a number of areas. The first is diversion before an offence has been committed - prevention. Here a number of recommendations are made with respect to education of the child and the community in order to make prevention a priority when new diversion programmes are considered and introduced. The second area is that of diversion after the offence has taken place. This deals with diversion by the police at the moment of apprehension and recommends the introduction of cautions as a diversionary measure. The third aspect that is considered is diversion after the juvenile has been arrested and/or charged. The establishment of Reception and Assessment Centres and the setting up of Family Group Conferences are especially highlighted. The detention of the child until his/her trial is also investigated and it is concluded that this is an unnecessary measure except in extreme circumstances. The progression of the child's case to court is the fifth area considered. Here, recommendations are made as to the necessity for the proper training of court personnel and the need for the introduction of court imposed diversionary programmes before sentencing. With respect to diversion after the child has been found guilty, a number of suggestions are made as to the introduction of new sentencing options and new or improved institutions. Finally, recent reforms are discussed. The conclusion reached is that juveniles should not be imprisoned except in the most extreme cases, and that diversion programmes should be instituted as soon as possible as the basis of SouthAfrica's juvenile justice system. It is deemed essential that diversion begins with prevention and continues until sentencing is completed, and that all children are diverted unless this is not possible.

In an attempt to look at the question of juvenile delinquency, an exploratory and descriptive study was undertaken to examine the relationship between selected social factors and the disposition by the court of the cases of female juveniles in the province of British Columbia. The study population consisted of 499 cases which appeared before the British Columbia courts in the year of 1966. This figure includes all female juvenile offenders with the exception of Vancouver where a sample population was selected. Data was collected from the Dominion Bureau of Vital Statistics, Form 3, 1966, coded and computerized in an attempt to correlate specific variables. The resulting univariate and bivariate tables were examined and certain conclusions were drawn. An important factor which must be taken into account, along with other difficulties, in considering such conclusions, was the inadequacy of available statistical data. Despite these limitations, it was found: that generally the disposition was appropriate to the offense; that older offenders were more frequently fined or required to make restitution; that the majority of fathers' occupations tended to fall into the lower socio-economic strata; and that dispositions involving loss of liberty were more likely to be imposed on children whose fathers were in the lower strata. Of interest were the findings which indicated that some current and popular assumptions regarding causative factors in juvenile delinquency were not supported by this study. With full knowledge that the hypothesis has not been conclusively proven, we hope that the merits of this study will encourage others, interested in this field or juvenile delinquency, to expand on the framework provided herein. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This thesis examined differences in reasoning concerning hypothetical versus real-life moral situations in order to better understand the moral development of delinquents in general, and psychopaths in particular. Participants ranged in age from 15 to 18 years and were divided into three subgroups: 14 psychopaths, 15 delinquents, and 15 normal youths (total N = 44). All subjects were individually interviewed and assessed on (a) Hare's (1985) psychopathy checklist, (b) two of Kohlberg's hypothetical moral dilemmas, and (c) a subject-generated real-life moral dilemma. Reasoning regarding these dilemmas was scored for both moral stage and moral orientation. It was found that the normal youths attained a higher level of moral reasoning than both the delinquents and psychopaths. Secondly, it was found that all groups scored lower on the real-life than the hypothetical dilemmas, indicating that hypothetical dilemmas may elicit a person's best level of reasoning, whereas real-life dilemmas may entail factors which lower the level of moral reasoning used in an actual situation of moral conflict. Third, non-incarcerated subjects were found to use more of the perfectionism and fairness orientations (Subtype B) than did the incarcerated. It was also found that psychopaths used more of the egoistic utilitarianism orientation than did non-psychopaths when discussing real-life dilemmas. That is, they focused more on issues related to themselves than did either the delinquents or the normals. Thus, this study reveals a pattern of deficiencies in the moral reasoning development of psychopaths and delinquents when compared to their normal counterparts. As well, hypothetical and real-life dilemmas were found to differ in the level of moral reasoning that they elicited. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

No description available.