Juvenile Corrections in the Era of Reform: A Meta-Synthesis of Qualitative Studies

Abstract

JUVENILE CORRECTIONS IN THE ERA OF REFORM 2In this paper, the authors synthesize knowledge from select qualitative studies examining rehabilitation-oriented juvenile residential corrections and aftercare programs. Using metasynthesis methodology, the authors extracted and coded content from 10 research studies conducted by five authors across criminology, sociology, and social welfare disciplines. The total number of published works based on those studies analyzed was 18. Collectively, these studies offer insight into three major components of the juvenile correctional experience: therapeutic treatment and evidence-based practices, the shaping of identities and masculinities, and preparation for reentry. This analysis is particularly important as the United States is currently in an era of reform during which policymakers are increasingly espousing the benefits of rehabilitation for youth offenders over punishment. These studies took place before during and after this era of reform, and yet the findings are surprisingly consistent over time, raising key questions about the effectiveness of the reform strategies. (Barton & Butts, 1990;Benda, 2001;Fagan, 1996;Hockenberry, Sickmund, & Sladky, 2011, Loughran et al., 2009Schneider, 1986).States interested in improving upon their conditions of confinement are often more likely to prioritize quantitative evaluations of their programming rather than qualitative studies about the landscape of confinement. The benefits of quantitative research may be more evident to policymakers because they appear to be more strongly rooted in positivist concerns with obtaining hard data about the relationships between interventions and recidivism rates, even though qualitative studies may be more effective in elucidating context-specific concerns as well as the contradictions and challenges of evidence-based practices.There are significant barriers to conducting scholarly research inside juvenile facilities Through meta-synthesis, this study contributes to existing knowledge about youth confinement by analyzing data from studies conducted in various regions of the U.S. The research collectively points to how these dimensions of facility life and experiences of reentry influence factors related to desistance from crime, such as young people's ability to access prosocial relationships with others, their sense of self-efficacy, and the structural conditions and barriers to change (Mulvey et al., 2004). Rather than focusing on the extremes of abuse, violence, and social control, this meta-synthesis examines some of the softer dimensions of life inside-the meanings of interventions in the lives of young people and their consequences for life after confinement; the role of institutional life in shaping identity; and the unique role that incarceration plays in young people's gender identity and performance. Background and Significance

Uncovering the nuances of criminal motivations andmodus operandiin the Russian Far East: A wildlife crime case study

“…Through the intellectual exploration of the convergence of culture and criminal processes into contemporary social life, cultural criminology highlights the importance of ethnographic work with a particular focus on subjectivity and reflexivity (Ferrell, 1999). In this way it frames inquiry based on integration of the social context, something that traditionally has been ignored in quantitative social science research (Sankofa et al, 2017). Within the field of criminology, ethnographic research most frequently involves observation of, and at times participation in, the activities of deviant populations (Ferrell, 1997;Ferrell and Hamm, 1998).…”

The New Economy and Youth Justice

“…Youth justice systems, in their contemporary focus on behavioral change programming, skilling up young people, and preparing young people to lead a life without crime (Sankofa et al, 2017), are arguably doing work that is directly relevant to this new economy. Ironically, the 'skilling up' trend that exists outside of youth justice system, promoted by governments in the context of the shifting economy, have not necessarily been replicated in youth justice settings.…”

“…These expectations were viewed somewhat cynically by some staff and young people not only as efforts to engage in behavioral management and control of facility life, but also as failing to understand the complex internal dynamics of self-control and self-change (Cox, 2016(Cox, , 2018b. The construction of behavioral change programming also fails to recognize the broader structural barriers which young people face upon release from the facilities, and which they ultimately cannot rely solely on behavioral management and self-control strategies to face (Cox, 2018b;Sankofa et al, 2017).…”

“…Treatment interventions in juvenile custodial contexts have arguably been focused on stimulating individual change through individualized , largely cognitive-behavioral interventions, largely focused on stimulating individual agency to overcome criminogenic instincts (Lipsey and Wilson, 1998; Sankofa et al, 2017). Yet, these treatment interventions, which are largely focused on behavior, as opposed to feelings, may play a role in exacerbating long-standing cynicism and mistrust of the systems (Cox, 2018b).…”

“…In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it has been argued that the solutions posed to the decline of work tend to reside in an appeal to individual adaptation – through retraining, education, or skilling – as opposed to institutional fixes (Morgan, 2019: 390). In custodial contexts, these individual solutions are alive and well – interventions are arguably highly individualized and aimed at supporting self-control and change (Sankofa et al, 2017). Any focus on skilling and training arguably often resides in preparing young people for low-wage work, and staff for casualization.…”