Exploring the perspectives of young offenders and correctional officers on rehabilitation programmes in Malawi: A mixed methods study
AbstractThe young people on the wrong side of the law are incarcerated at specific penitentiaries known as Young Offenders' Rehabilitation Centres (YORCs) in Malawi. Using the good lives model and risk needs responsivity principles, this study sought to explore the perspectives of young offende...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Cogent Social Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2023.2276123 |
| _version_ | 1797393730025553920 |
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| author | Samson Chaima Robin Kajawo Lineo Rose Johnson |
| author_facet | Samson Chaima Robin Kajawo Lineo Rose Johnson |
| author_sort | Samson Chaima Robin Kajawo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | AbstractThe young people on the wrong side of the law are incarcerated at specific penitentiaries known as Young Offenders' Rehabilitation Centres (YORCs) in Malawi. Using the good lives model and risk needs responsivity principles, this study sought to explore the perspectives of young offenders and correctional officers on the nature and meaningfulness of the offenders’ rehabilitation at the five YORCs in Malawi. The study involved 340 participants in mixed-methods research utilising a convergent design. Specifically, the study involved randomly selected 290 young offenders (mean age = 19.8) in a descriptive survey, 25 ex-offenders and 25 correctional officers in semi-structured interviews. The key findings were that although most inmates were socio-economically disadvantaged, signalling the need for comprehensive rehabilitation, the study found that both inmates and correctional offenders viewed correctional activities in the YORCs as not inadequate. Thus, a few rehabilitative activities, such as education, farming and skills training, were haphazardly accessible at various YORCs. Many young offenders were forced to work in prison farms at three facilities disregarding their educational statuses. It was concluded that offender rehabilitation was not handled as a constitutionally mandated obligation in Malawi since the rehabilitation centres focused on security and agricultural productivity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T00:08:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-592cba3e859446e4947a1fec14df3c99 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2331-1886 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T00:08:09Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cogent Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-592cba3e859446e4947a1fec14df3c992023-12-12T12:45:37ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Social Sciences2331-18862023-12-019210.1080/23311886.2023.2276123Exploring the perspectives of young offenders and correctional officers on rehabilitation programmes in Malawi: A mixed methods studySamson Chaima Robin Kajawo0Lineo Rose Johnson1Department of Adult, Community & Continuing Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South AfricaDepartment of Adult, Community & Continuing Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South AfricaAbstractThe young people on the wrong side of the law are incarcerated at specific penitentiaries known as Young Offenders' Rehabilitation Centres (YORCs) in Malawi. Using the good lives model and risk needs responsivity principles, this study sought to explore the perspectives of young offenders and correctional officers on the nature and meaningfulness of the offenders’ rehabilitation at the five YORCs in Malawi. The study involved 340 participants in mixed-methods research utilising a convergent design. Specifically, the study involved randomly selected 290 young offenders (mean age = 19.8) in a descriptive survey, 25 ex-offenders and 25 correctional officers in semi-structured interviews. The key findings were that although most inmates were socio-economically disadvantaged, signalling the need for comprehensive rehabilitation, the study found that both inmates and correctional offenders viewed correctional activities in the YORCs as not inadequate. Thus, a few rehabilitative activities, such as education, farming and skills training, were haphazardly accessible at various YORCs. Many young offenders were forced to work in prison farms at three facilities disregarding their educational statuses. It was concluded that offender rehabilitation was not handled as a constitutionally mandated obligation in Malawi since the rehabilitation centres focused on security and agricultural productivity.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2023.2276123ex-offendersMalawi prisonsprison farmsrehabilitationyoung offenders |
| spellingShingle | Samson Chaima Robin Kajawo Lineo Rose Johnson Exploring the perspectives of young offenders and correctional officers on rehabilitation programmes in Malawi: A mixed methods study Cogent Social Sciences ex-offenders Malawi prisons prison farms rehabilitation young offenders |
| title | Exploring the perspectives of young offenders and correctional officers on rehabilitation programmes in Malawi: A mixed methods study |
| title_full | Exploring the perspectives of young offenders and correctional officers on rehabilitation programmes in Malawi: A mixed methods study |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the perspectives of young offenders and correctional officers on rehabilitation programmes in Malawi: A mixed methods study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the perspectives of young offenders and correctional officers on rehabilitation programmes in Malawi: A mixed methods study |
| title_short | Exploring the perspectives of young offenders and correctional officers on rehabilitation programmes in Malawi: A mixed methods study |
| title_sort | exploring the perspectives of young offenders and correctional officers on rehabilitation programmes in malawi a mixed methods study |
| topic | ex-offenders Malawi prisons prison farms rehabilitation young offenders |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2023.2276123 |
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