The Role of Social Workers in Controlling Cases of Youths Relapsing into Criminal Behaviour. A Case of Harare Central Prison
- Author
- Muchandiwona, Kundai
- Title
- The Role of Social Workers in Controlling Cases of Youths Relapsing into Criminal Behaviour. A Case of Harare Central Prison
- Abstract
- The study focused on exploring the roles of social workers in controlling the cases of youths relapsing into criminal behaviour. The aim of the study was to identify the roles of social workers in reducing recidivism among youth offenders in Harare. The specific objectives were: to find out the causes of youth offenders relapsing into crime at Harare Central Prison, to examine the part played by social workers in controlling cases of youths relapsing into criminal behaviour at Harare Central prison, to ascertain the challenges faced by social workers in the process of controlling cases of youth offenders at the Harare Central Prison, to provide recommendations to social workers on how they can overcome the challenges that they face to ensure effective rehabilitation of youth offenders at Harare Central Prison. Underpinned by the systems theory and the social learning theory which explains how social workers can intervene in assisting youths who engage in criminal behaviour, the study made use of a mixed methodology which is a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, to collect data at Harare Central Prison, using in depth interviews with sixteen respondents, six which were key informants. The study brought out that facilitating, linking and counselling were some of the roles of social workers in controlling cases of youths relapsing into criminal behaviour. The study revealed that youths relapse into criminal behaviour largely because of lack of community engagement and the country’s crippled economy. Therefore the study recommended that social workers should act as resource mobilizers and advocators so that there is successful reintegration of the youths into the community to avoid recidivism.
- Date
- 2022
- Publisher
- BUSE
- Keywords
- Social Workers
- Supervisor
- N/A
- Item sets
- Department of Social Work
