NCJ Number
73920
Journal
ANNALES DE VAUCRESSON Dated: special issue (1979) Pages: 451-471
Date Published
1979
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This paper argues in favor of a new intervention mode with juvenile delinquents -- group family counseling and discussions held at the young offenders' homes and attended by social workers/educators, the juveniles, and their parents.
Abstract
A case history illustrates the effectiveness of this intervention mode, which involves the parents of young offenders in helping resolve the problems and conflicts that have caused the juvenile to act out his criminal impulses. The protagonist, a 16-year old boy, underdeveloped for his age, with average intelligence, and some psychopathic traits, had committed repeated car thefts. After his first offense, the boy had been released in the custody of his father, who had taken him back reluctantly. Subsequently, the boy had stolen again: the last time involved escaping from the institution where he had been placed upon the father's refusal to take him back a second time and joy riding with fellow escapees in another stolen vehicle. It was obvious that the first attempts at reeducation and treatment, initially at the boy's home, then in a juvenile institution, had failed. What finally emerged was a history of communication failures between the boy and his father, whom the boy blamed for his mother's mental illness and repeated commitments to psychiatric institutions. The boy's recidivism was a continued defiance of his father. A counseling session held at the boy's home, attended by the social worker in charge of his case, the boy, and both parents, brought the smoldering family conflicts into the open: the intervention of a third party (the social worker/educator) helped the family restructure itself and heal its dysfunctions. A chart and quotations from the actual family therapy session are included.