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.

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.

This study is based on a qualitative method in which the data consists of local social services' statements on girls as young delinquents. The sample consists of ten statements received from two courts in the Stockholm area, where girls between 15-17 years old are suspected of either theft/ attempted robbery or violent offences. By using a gender perspective the purpose of the study is to look at the social services constructions of girls who are suspected of any of the crimes. Results and analysis indicate that girls are constructed in a variety of ways. We have not found that the suspicion of crime has shown any clear differences but that assessment of particular care has been more of importance. Some statements emphasize the girls' crime, on the other hand some statements describe girl’s crime as reduced and seems to depend on other factors.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / There is a growing sense of apathy and lack of focus amongst the youth, which contributes to the threat of social integration. Constructive alternatives are therefore needed to curb gangsterism, drug abuse and other criminal activities among youth at risk. It has become imperative to challenge the present situation in which crime has become one of the most attractive options facing our youth. Through a programme of contructive engagement, a substantial difference can be made in their rehabilitation and ultimately their active participation in building a safer society. A strong emphasis should be placed on the development and implementation of effective restorative justice principles, alternative sentencing and community-based rehabilitation programmes, particularly for young people in marginalised communities. / South Africa

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / Despite the unpleasant living conditions in prison, recidivism seems to be an uncontrollable phenomenon. It is evident that prison life is harsh with inmates having to sleep on the floors due to overpopulation, frequently subjected to physical and sexual abuse, and overpopulation leading to numerous communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections. Prison should therefore, be the least favourable ecosystem in which to be incorporated. However, research indicates that thousands of youth return to prison habitually. This study aimed to explore juvenile inmates perceptions of their return to prison. Although recidivism is often measured in terms of the success of rehabilitation programmes, this study focused on eliciting socio-economic factors influencing recidivism. / South Africa

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / This study aimed to (1) establish the conceptualization of youth violence perpetration within the literature; (2) explore identified community-level protective factors, (3) establish whether the interaction between community-level risk and protective factors are discussed, and (4) establish whether community-level protective factors are conceptualised within community resilience framework within the literature on youth violence. The research design of this study is a systematic review of literature focused on youth violence perpetration, community-level protective factors against perpetration of violence by youth, as well as community resilience. English-medium research literature published between Jan 1994 and Jan 2014 was reviewed. Databases that were searched are: Academic Search Premier, PsycArticles, MEDLINE, JSTOR, SocIndex, and SageOnline. Data extraction was done by two reviewers at three stages of review (abstract reading, title reading, and full-text reading), using three instruments for quality assessment across the three stages. Fifteen articles were deemed acceptable after review at the end of the three stages, achieving a threshold score of 50% or more, and these articles were used in the findings of this review. These primary studies were collated, systematically assessed, synthesised, and interpreted. Findings of this review indicate that youth violence perpetration is conceptualised within the research as various forms of violence committed by young people. The literature has suggested that youth violence perpetration may be as a result of a lack of social infrastructure and opportunities within impoverished communities. For this reason the provision of community resources, economic opportunity, educational and mentoring programmes, and subsequently the development of prosocial involvement/ interaction was suggested as strategies for intervention at a community level. Major findings of the study as well as the implications for practice and further research are discussed.

No description available.

The aim of the study was to explore and describe causes of re-offending and the management’s perspective of the effectiveness of programmes being implemented at Nerina One Stop Youth Justice Centre in dealing with re-offenders. Youth re-offending involves breaking of the law and crime. Offending if repeated then develops to be re-offending which is the breaking of the law more than once and this is a dilemma in South Africa as the increase of crime is a challenging issue. A qualitative approach was utilized following an exploratory, descriptive research design as the researcher sought to understand the perspective of the managers at Nerina regarding causes of re-offending and the effectiveness of the intervention programmes aimed at addressing this phenomenon. The researcher conducted face to face interviews with the mangers at Nerina One Stop Youth Justice Centre. For the purpose of this study the population was the total complement of the management staff at the One Stop Youth Justice Centre, this included the personnel of the departments of Justice, Social Development, and South African Police Service who are all involved in rendering services at Nerina. The method of data collection was one on one semi structured interviews and data analysis undertaken according to the steps for qualitative data analysis as proposed by Tesch in Creswell (1994). Guba’s model (Krefting, 1991) was employed for assessing the trustworthiness of the qualitative data. Some of the important findings included the causes of re-offending which included loss of parents, alcohol and drug abuse, inadequate parent role, role of peers and inadequate facilities. Further more from the study suggestions for improving programmes at the One Stop Youth Justice Center were discussed and these include involvement of community, involve more role players, training staff and increasing staff.

This study investigated the effects of gender based violence on children in the Zimunya community of Mutare in Zimbabwe. A qualitative approach was used to gather data, thus thirty children from thirty households from three wards were interviewed and three focus groups were conducted with women from the three wards of Zimunya. The outcomes of the research reveal that gender based violence have negative effects on children who are affected physically, socially, emotionally and psychologically. In other words, gender based violence impacts negatively on the development of the affected children. In the areas under study, domestic violence was identified as the most prevalent types of violence experienced by children in these communities. This is in spite of the fact that there are many services that are provided to protect children and their mothers from violent situations. The role played by support service groups cannot be undermined as they contributed to the reduction of violence in some homes. It is thus concluded that, in as much as services are provided by both government and non-government organizations to the victims of violence, many affected people were not utilizing them fully. Additionally, some research participants showed a certain level of confusion in distinguishing between services provided for children from those provided for women. This study therefore recommends that awareness campaigns should be carried out in many communities in Zimbabwe so as to inform women and children about the availability support services, what they are meant for and for whom. Additionally, the gender violence topic should also be introduced in primary and secondary school syllabuses of Zimbabwe so as to make all children aware of their rights and responsibilities as they grow up.