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Features of the psycho-educational recovery and reintegration of young delinquents
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Publisher: Editura Universitară
Author: Cristina Magdalena Toma
Edition: I
Pages: 322
Publisher year: 2025
ISBN: 978-606-28-2016-9
DOI: 10.5682/9786062820169
Product Code:
9786062820169
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CHAPTER 1. CONCEPTUAL DELIMITATIONS OF THE NOTIONS OF SOCIAL DEVIANCE, DELINCENT, YOUNG DELINQUENT, RECOVERY AND SOCIAL REINTEGRATION OF PERSONS DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY/21
1.1. Conceptual clarifications regarding the recovery and social reintegration of persons deprived of liberty/21
1.2. Definitions and conceptual clarifications regarding the phenomenon of deviance/24
1.2.1. Conceptual clarifications regarding the phenomenon of deviance among young people/25
1.3. Theories of deviance/29
1.3.1. Anomie theory/29
1.3.2. Differential association theory./31
1.3.3. Social control theory/32
1.3.4. Social labeling theory/37
1.3.5. Criminal Personality Theory/42
1.3.6. Psychoanalytic Theory of Deviance/43
CHAPTER 2. INDIVIDUAL VERSUS INSTITUTION IN THE PENITENTIARY ENVIRONMENT/47
2.1. Penitentiary institution. Particularities and characteristics /47
2.1.1. Penitentiary institution as a total institution – generalities/49
2.1.2. Detention regimes/50
2.2. Deprivation of liberty and psychosocial consequences/50
2.2.1. Consequences of incarceration on the individual/51
2.2.1.1. Consequences of incarceration on the young offender/58
CHAPTER 3. PENITENTIARY – BETWEEN ISOLATING AND EDUCATING/69
3.1. Specifics of learning in restrictive environments/69
3.2. Learning factors/71
3.2.1. External factors/71
3.2.1.1. The role of the environment/71
3.2.1.2. Prison staff/72
3.2.2. Internal factors /79
3.2.2.1. Learning and attention. The orientation effect in the prison environment/80
3.2.2.2. Motivation for learning in the prison system/82
3.2.2.2.1. Intrinsic motivation in the prison system/83
3.2.2.2.2. Extrinsic motivation in the prison system/85
3.2.2.2.2.1. Credit system – Awarding rewards in the prison environment/86
3.3. Learning levels/89
3.4. Learning areas/92
CHAPTER 4. EDUCATION OF YOUTH IN PENITIONS AND COLLABORATION WITH THE COMMUNITY/94
4.1. Education of youth in penitentiaries/94
4.1.1. Benefits of education of youth in penitentiaries/95
4.1.2. Characteristics and efficiency of educational programs for incarcerated youth/96
4.1.3. Limits of education programs for youth in penitentiaries/100
4.2. Social reintegration services within Romanian penitentiaries – generalities/104
4.2.1. Purpose, objectives and content of education, psychological and social assistance measures/105
4.3. Forms of recovery and reintegration of youth in penitentiaries in relation to the community/107
4.3.1. School courses in penitentiaries/107
4.3.2. Vocational qualification/retraining courses in prisons/109
4.3.3. Job exchange for prisoners/110
CHAPTER 5. EMPIRICAL RESEARCH/117
5.1. General considerations. Introductory aspects regarding quantitative and qualitative methods used in educational research/117
5.1.1. Qualitative and quantitative research in the penitentiary environment/117
5.2. Research methodology/118
5.2.2. Research purpose and objectives/121
5.2.2.1. Research purpose/121
5.2.2.2. Research objectives /121
5.2.3. Research hypotheses/122
5.2.4. Population and research group /124
5.2.4.1. Sample description/124
5.2.4.2. Respondent categories/125
5.3. Description of methods and techniques used in research/129
5.3.1. Questionnaire-based survey/129
5.3.1.1. Methods of collecting, coding and analyzing data obtained through the questionnaire method/132
5.3.2. Focus group survey/138
5.4. Presentation and interpretation of the results of the questionnaire-based survey /141
Study 1 – The constellation of factors involved in the psycho-educational reintegration of young prisoners./141
Study 2 – Identification of the training needs of specialists who carry out activities with young offenders./141
5.4.1. Categories of respondents participating in the questionnaire-based survey research/141
5.4.1.1. Distribution of young prisoner respondents participating in the questionnaire-based survey research/141
5.4.1.2. Distribution of specialist respondents working with young people at risk /144
5.4.2. Descriptive results for young inmate respondents, participants in the research through the questionnaire survey/146
5.4.3 Descriptive results for specialist respondents/152
5.4.4. Interpretation of the research results/154
5.4.4.1. Correlations regarding the involvement of young inmates in vocational instructional activities and certain characteristics related to their punishment/154
5.4.4.2. Correlations regarding the psycho-attitudinal characteristics of young inmates and certain characteristics related to the commission of crimes./ 167
5.4.4.3. Correlations regarding the influences of the socio-economic environment of young detainees and certain characteristics related to their punishment/179
5.4.4.4. Correlations regarding the dangerousness of the criminal model of young detainees and their involvement in professional instructional activities/191
5.4.4.5. Correlations between the psycho-attitudinal characteristics of young detainees and the dangerousness of their criminal model/196
5.4.4.6. Correlations between the influences of the socio-economic environment of young detainees and the dangerousness of their criminal model/202
5.4.4.7. Correlations between the educational level of young detainees and certain characteristics related to the individual, the educational level and the socio-family environment, respectively: the dangerousness of their criminal model, their involvement in educational instructional activities, their psycho-attitudinal characteristics and the influences of their socio-economic environment/207
5.4.4.8. Correlations regarding the self-assessment of the professional competencies of specialists working with young people at risk and their professional training needs./214
5.4.4.9. Correlations regarding the age of specialists and their seniority at the current workplace and their competencies and their professional training needs./215
5.5. Presentation of the dynamics of recovery and social reintegration efforts in the penitentiary system./217
Study 3 Longitudinal study 2012 2020/217
5.5.1. General dynamics of the number of prisoners in the period 2012/ 2022/217
5.5.2. Dynamics of gainful activities carried out by persons deprived of their liberty/219
5.5.3. Dynamics of educational activities carried out by persons deprived of their liberty/220
5.6. Presentation and interpretation of the results obtained through the focus group survey/222
Study 4 – Particularization of the opinion of young prisoners regarding the causes and consequences of crime as well as the difficulties encountered after release. Focus group with young prisoners. /222
5.6.1. Perception of young prisoners regarding the main causes of delinquency/224
5.6.2. Opinion of young prisoners regarding the consequences of delinquent behavior/227
5.6.3. Opinion of young prisoners regarding the difficulties encountered after release./228
5.6.4. Opinion of young prisoners regarding the involvement of the community in preventing and combating delinquency among young people /229
5.6.5. Perception of young prisoners regarding the sanctioning of delinquent behavior /230
5.7. Limitations of the research and difficulties encountered/235
5.8. Final conclusions and recommendations/237
1.1. Conceptual clarifications regarding the recovery and social reintegration of persons deprived of liberty/21
1.2. Definitions and conceptual clarifications regarding the phenomenon of deviance/24
1.2.1. Conceptual clarifications regarding the phenomenon of deviance among young people/25
1.3. Theories of deviance/29
1.3.1. Anomie theory/29
1.3.2. Differential association theory./31
1.3.3. Social control theory/32
1.3.4. Social labeling theory/37
1.3.5. Criminal Personality Theory/42
1.3.6. Psychoanalytic Theory of Deviance/43
CHAPTER 2. INDIVIDUAL VERSUS INSTITUTION IN THE PENITENTIARY ENVIRONMENT/47
2.1. Penitentiary institution. Particularities and characteristics /47
2.1.1. Penitentiary institution as a total institution – generalities/49
2.1.2. Detention regimes/50
2.2. Deprivation of liberty and psychosocial consequences/50
2.2.1. Consequences of incarceration on the individual/51
2.2.1.1. Consequences of incarceration on the young offender/58
CHAPTER 3. PENITENTIARY – BETWEEN ISOLATING AND EDUCATING/69
3.1. Specifics of learning in restrictive environments/69
3.2. Learning factors/71
3.2.1. External factors/71
3.2.1.1. The role of the environment/71
3.2.1.2. Prison staff/72
3.2.2. Internal factors /79
3.2.2.1. Learning and attention. The orientation effect in the prison environment/80
3.2.2.2. Motivation for learning in the prison system/82
3.2.2.2.1. Intrinsic motivation in the prison system/83
3.2.2.2.2. Extrinsic motivation in the prison system/85
3.2.2.2.2.1. Credit system – Awarding rewards in the prison environment/86
3.3. Learning levels/89
3.4. Learning areas/92
CHAPTER 4. EDUCATION OF YOUTH IN PENITIONS AND COLLABORATION WITH THE COMMUNITY/94
4.1. Education of youth in penitentiaries/94
4.1.1. Benefits of education of youth in penitentiaries/95
4.1.2. Characteristics and efficiency of educational programs for incarcerated youth/96
4.1.3. Limits of education programs for youth in penitentiaries/100
4.2. Social reintegration services within Romanian penitentiaries – generalities/104
4.2.1. Purpose, objectives and content of education, psychological and social assistance measures/105
4.3. Forms of recovery and reintegration of youth in penitentiaries in relation to the community/107
4.3.1. School courses in penitentiaries/107
4.3.2. Vocational qualification/retraining courses in prisons/109
4.3.3. Job exchange for prisoners/110
CHAPTER 5. EMPIRICAL RESEARCH/117
5.1. General considerations. Introductory aspects regarding quantitative and qualitative methods used in educational research/117
5.1.1. Qualitative and quantitative research in the penitentiary environment/117
5.2. Research methodology/118
5.2.2. Research purpose and objectives/121
5.2.2.1. Research purpose/121
5.2.2.2. Research objectives /121
5.2.3. Research hypotheses/122
5.2.4. Population and research group /124
5.2.4.1. Sample description/124
5.2.4.2. Respondent categories/125
5.3. Description of methods and techniques used in research/129
5.3.1. Questionnaire-based survey/129
5.3.1.1. Methods of collecting, coding and analyzing data obtained through the questionnaire method/132
5.3.2. Focus group survey/138
5.4. Presentation and interpretation of the results of the questionnaire-based survey /141
Study 1 – The constellation of factors involved in the psycho-educational reintegration of young prisoners./141
Study 2 – Identification of the training needs of specialists who carry out activities with young offenders./141
5.4.1. Categories of respondents participating in the questionnaire-based survey research/141
5.4.1.1. Distribution of young prisoner respondents participating in the questionnaire-based survey research/141
5.4.1.2. Distribution of specialist respondents working with young people at risk /144
5.4.2. Descriptive results for young inmate respondents, participants in the research through the questionnaire survey/146
5.4.3 Descriptive results for specialist respondents/152
5.4.4. Interpretation of the research results/154
5.4.4.1. Correlations regarding the involvement of young inmates in vocational instructional activities and certain characteristics related to their punishment/154
5.4.4.2. Correlations regarding the psycho-attitudinal characteristics of young inmates and certain characteristics related to the commission of crimes./ 167
5.4.4.3. Correlations regarding the influences of the socio-economic environment of young detainees and certain characteristics related to their punishment/179
5.4.4.4. Correlations regarding the dangerousness of the criminal model of young detainees and their involvement in professional instructional activities/191
5.4.4.5. Correlations between the psycho-attitudinal characteristics of young detainees and the dangerousness of their criminal model/196
5.4.4.6. Correlations between the influences of the socio-economic environment of young detainees and the dangerousness of their criminal model/202
5.4.4.7. Correlations between the educational level of young detainees and certain characteristics related to the individual, the educational level and the socio-family environment, respectively: the dangerousness of their criminal model, their involvement in educational instructional activities, their psycho-attitudinal characteristics and the influences of their socio-economic environment/207
5.4.4.8. Correlations regarding the self-assessment of the professional competencies of specialists working with young people at risk and their professional training needs./214
5.4.4.9. Correlations regarding the age of specialists and their seniority at the current workplace and their competencies and their professional training needs./215
5.5. Presentation of the dynamics of recovery and social reintegration efforts in the penitentiary system./217
Study 3 Longitudinal study 2012 2020/217
5.5.1. General dynamics of the number of prisoners in the period 2012/ 2022/217
5.5.2. Dynamics of gainful activities carried out by persons deprived of their liberty/219
5.5.3. Dynamics of educational activities carried out by persons deprived of their liberty/220
5.6. Presentation and interpretation of the results obtained through the focus group survey/222
Study 4 – Particularization of the opinion of young prisoners regarding the causes and consequences of crime as well as the difficulties encountered after release. Focus group with young prisoners. /222
5.6.1. Perception of young prisoners regarding the main causes of delinquency/224
5.6.2. Opinion of young prisoners regarding the consequences of delinquent behavior/227
5.6.3. Opinion of young prisoners regarding the difficulties encountered after release./228
5.6.4. Opinion of young prisoners regarding the involvement of the community in preventing and combating delinquency among young people /229
5.6.5. Perception of young prisoners regarding the sanctioning of delinquent behavior /230
5.7. Limitations of the research and difficulties encountered/235
5.8. Final conclusions and recommendations/237
Romanian society is currently going through a complex of economic, social, and penal changes. All these changes cannot fail to affect a lesser-known part of our society – the penitentiary.
In general, society does not pay special attention to life in prisons. Often, only the stage of committing the crime and the investigation arouses interest. Once behind bars, the criminal is rarely of interest to the media and the general public. At most, he may be of interest to the academic environment, to researchers.
The penitentiary system is not a reality that takes place outside of society. It is a component part of society, with a strong impact on it.
European norms emphasize the “humanization of punishment”, that is, the execution of punishment while respecting human dignity, but especially while ensuring optimal human development, and the Romanian penitentiary must provide the minimum conditions assumed in domestic normative acts.
Even if the prisoner is “invited to contribute to his own positive change” (Gheorghe, 2016, p. 210), the determined role in developing effective interventions falls to the penitentiary system, through the social actors involved.
The current system, referring here to the educational system and the execution system, does not assume much responsibility for the fact that these young people will become disadvantaged adults “candidates for poverty, vulnerable to social changes, presenting a risk of pathological decompensation or antisocial manifestations” (Stoltz, 2000, p. 8).
If social failures in the economic or political field can be mitigated by implementing immediate legislative or economic measures, failures at the individual level, especially in terms of educating the young individual, determine long-term consequences.
Since 2006, I have been working in the penitentiary system, namely in the Ploiești penitentiary, and as a specialist, carrying out direct activities with young prisoners, I have been constantly concerned with understanding the particularities of this category of offenders. Listening to those incarcerated, I tend to believe that the period of incarceration is internalized as a “traumatic” experience, which marks their destiny. For some of the young prisoners, the penitentiary comes to represent “home”.
Social failure is often perceived as a continuation of school failure (Stoltz, 2000). In these conditions, the question arises whether educational interventions are adapted to the real needs of this social category? To what extent does prison education also respond to the needs of society?
All these questions should give much food for thought to social actors with interests in reducing delinquency among young people.
As a critical researcher, I must admit that this research was a challenge for me. On the one hand, as an employee in the penitentiary system, even coordinator of the social reintegration department, you can be tempted to let yourself be influenced by the (albeit quite consistent) efforts of the system. On the other hand, as a critical researcher, you have to analyze the results of educational efforts carried out with young offenders.
To be sure that the work will be objective, I started by establishing a critical interpretative research framework. It can be appreciated that this research is multidisciplinary, because, although it is positioned in an educational direction, my training and experience in psychology, as well as my work experience in the legal field, allowed me to take a broader approach.
I also aimed to ensure that research would not remain just a title on a bookshelf. I have always appreciated those studies that have a practical purpose. I wanted this research project to be a tool to create the framework for change. I hoped to go beyond the surface and possible recommendations (which often remain only at the stage of recommendations) and to be able to provide a holistic understanding of the psycho-educational reintegration of young offenders.
For this reason, the research also has an applied part, in the form of a continuing professional training program intended for specialists who carry out activities with young offenders, but which can be extended to other categories of specialists involved in working with young people in various risk situations.
In general, society does not pay special attention to life in prisons. Often, only the stage of committing the crime and the investigation arouses interest. Once behind bars, the criminal is rarely of interest to the media and the general public. At most, he may be of interest to the academic environment, to researchers.
The penitentiary system is not a reality that takes place outside of society. It is a component part of society, with a strong impact on it.
European norms emphasize the “humanization of punishment”, that is, the execution of punishment while respecting human dignity, but especially while ensuring optimal human development, and the Romanian penitentiary must provide the minimum conditions assumed in domestic normative acts.
Even if the prisoner is “invited to contribute to his own positive change” (Gheorghe, 2016, p. 210), the determined role in developing effective interventions falls to the penitentiary system, through the social actors involved.
The current system, referring here to the educational system and the execution system, does not assume much responsibility for the fact that these young people will become disadvantaged adults “candidates for poverty, vulnerable to social changes, presenting a risk of pathological decompensation or antisocial manifestations” (Stoltz, 2000, p. 8).
If social failures in the economic or political field can be mitigated by implementing immediate legislative or economic measures, failures at the individual level, especially in terms of educating the young individual, determine long-term consequences.
Since 2006, I have been working in the penitentiary system, namely in the Ploiești penitentiary, and as a specialist, carrying out direct activities with young prisoners, I have been constantly concerned with understanding the particularities of this category of offenders. Listening to those incarcerated, I tend to believe that the period of incarceration is internalized as a “traumatic” experience, which marks their destiny. For some of the young prisoners, the penitentiary comes to represent “home”.
Social failure is often perceived as a continuation of school failure (Stoltz, 2000). In these conditions, the question arises whether educational interventions are adapted to the real needs of this social category? To what extent does prison education also respond to the needs of society?
All these questions should give much food for thought to social actors with interests in reducing delinquency among young people.
As a critical researcher, I must admit that this research was a challenge for me. On the one hand, as an employee in the penitentiary system, even coordinator of the social reintegration department, you can be tempted to let yourself be influenced by the (albeit quite consistent) efforts of the system. On the other hand, as a critical researcher, you have to analyze the results of educational efforts carried out with young offenders.
To be sure that the work will be objective, I started by establishing a critical interpretative research framework. It can be appreciated that this research is multidisciplinary, because, although it is positioned in an educational direction, my training and experience in psychology, as well as my work experience in the legal field, allowed me to take a broader approach.
I also aimed to ensure that research would not remain just a title on a bookshelf. I have always appreciated those studies that have a practical purpose. I wanted this research project to be a tool to create the framework for change. I hoped to go beyond the surface and possible recommendations (which often remain only at the stage of recommendations) and to be able to provide a holistic understanding of the psycho-educational reintegration of young offenders.
For this reason, the research also has an applied part, in the form of a continuing professional training program intended for specialists who carry out activities with young offenders, but which can be extended to other categories of specialists involved in working with young people in various risk situations.
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