Effects of Just Community Programs on the Moral Level and Institutional Perceptions of Youthful Offenders (From On Prison Education, P 293-315, 1981, Lucien Morin, ed. - See NCJ-87647)

• NCJ Number: 87656
• Author(s): W Jennings
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 23 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; Canadian Government Publishing Ctr Supply and Services Canada; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: Canada
• Note: Available on microfiche as NCJ-87647. Paper presented to the World Congress in Education Values and the School - Symposium on Prison Education, Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres, July 1981

Annotation

A comparison of three types of institutional programs for youthful offenders revealed that the program using Kohlberg's model of a just community produced greater improvements in the clients' moral development than did either an open behavior modification unit or a secure transactional analysis program.

Abstract

The just community operated at an open group home in Florida for 10 delinquent boys below age 17. The program used weekly community meetings to make and change rules and to discuss interpersonal issues and conflicts. The other programs both took place in a State hospital in Massachusetts. In the open and secure behavior modification programs, the staff administered a reward and punishment system and expected residents to perform correct behaviors in response to specific instructions with a reward and punishment system. In the transactional analysis program, the staff's main function was to confront the residents about their unrealistic behavior using the transactional analysis techniques developed by Eric Berne. The study data came from interviews which took place from 9 months to 1 year apart. The interviews used hypothetical moral dilemmas and questions regarding the culture and atmosphere of the institution to focus on moral judgment and moral atmosphere. The just community program led to significantly more upward moral stage change than did the behavior modification or transactional analysis program. The amount of change found over 9 months was equivalent to that found in good developmental moral education programs for nondelinquent high school students. The behavior modification program produced the least change in moral growth. A just community atmosphere of fairness and growth costs no more in dollars or professional qualifications than does a more restrictive approach. The residential custody of offenders is compatible with an atmosphere of fairness and the stimulation of social and moral growth. Tables and a list of 15 references are provided.