JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AND MOBILE WORK WITH JUVENILES - A CITY DISTRICT-ORIENTED CONCEPT OF STREET WORK

• NCJ Number: 68916
• Author(s): W SPECHT
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 197 pages
• Sale Source: Hermann Luchterhand Verlag
• Language: German
• Country: West Germany (Former)
• Note: CRITICAL TEXTS - SOCIAL WORK, SOCIAL PEDAGOGY, AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Annotation

THE PRINCIPLES OF JUVENILE STREET WORK AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE WITH JUVENILE SOCIAL WORK IN STUTTGART, WEST GERMANY, ARE DESCRIBED.

Abstract

DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR BY JUVENILES IS DISCUSSED FROM THE STANDPOINT OF GROUP RATHER THAN INDIVIDUAL PROCESSES, WITH SPECIAL ATTENTION TO AMERICAN RESEARCH PROJECTS AND EXPERIENCE BECAUSE OF THE DEARTH OF GERMAN MATERIALS ON PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES TO GROUP JUVENILE DELINQUENCY. THE APPLICABILITY OF RESULTS FROM SUCH AMERICAN PROJECTS AS THE ROXBURY PROJECT, MOBILIZATION FOR YOUTH, GROUP GUIDANCE PROJECT, LADINO HILL PROJECT, OUTREACHING YOUTH WORK, AND BROADER URBAN INVOLVEMENT AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT ARE APPLIED TO WEST GERMAN CIRCUMSTANCES. A CONCRETE EXAMPLE OF THESE PRINCIPLES IS THE STUTTGART SOCIETY FOR JUVENILE SOCIAL WORK, WHERE JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IS APPROACHED AS A PROBLEM OF PARTICULAR CITY DISTRICTS. CRIMES BY GROUPS OF JUVENILES ARE INTERPRETED AS CRIES FOR HELP. THE SOCIETY IS RUN BY CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS AND HAS BEEN POSITIVELY RECEIVED BY THE PRESS AND POLICE, ALTHOUGH THE CITY GOVERNMENT AND JUVENILE COURTS ARE LESS ENTHUSIASTIC. IN THE SIX YEARS OF ITS EXISTENCE, THE CENTRAL GOALS OF THE PROGRAM HAVE BEEN THE APPEASEMENT OF HOSTILITIES BETWEEN GANGS AND THE MOBILIZATION OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES TO IMPROVE THE EVERYDAY SITUATION OF JUVENILES THROUGH LONG-TERM SOCIAL WORK. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES ARE ESTABLISHMENT OF SOCIAL WORKER CONTACTS WITH JUVENILES, PROVISION OF GROUP COUNSELING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES. A SYSTEMATIC REDUCTION OF THE JUVENILES' STIGMATIZING CONTACTS AIMS TO REVERSE LABELING EFFECTS. THE PROGRAM ALSO PURSUES DISTRICT PROBLEMS, PUBLIC RELATIONS WORK TO USES OF COMMUNITY FIGURES AS ROLE MODELS FOR JUVENILES, MAINTAINS SOCIAL WORKER AVAILABILITY, AND FACILITATES COOPERATION BETWEEN SOCIAL WORKERS AND OTHER INTERVENING AGENCIES. ACHIEVING THESE GOALS REQUIRES THAT SOCIAL WORKERS SELECT GROUPS AND GAIN THEIR CONFIDENCE TO OVERCOME THE GROUPS' NEGATIVE SELF-IMAGE. TREATMENT PROCEEDS THROUGH THE FOLLOWING STEPS; 1) ELIMINATION OF DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR AND OFFENSIVE DESTIGMATIZATION THROUGH CLUB WORK, 2) IMPROVEMENT OF JUVENILES' SOCIAL CAPABILITIES, AND 3) CONSCIOUSNESS MODIFICATIONBY MEANS OF NEW EXPERIENCES. REDUCED CRIME AND RECIDIVISM RATES IN THE EXPERIMENTAL DISTRICTS DEMONSTRATE THE SUCCESS OF THE PROGRAM. A BIBLIOGRAPHY, NOTES, EXAMPLES, AND SEVERAL ILLUSTRATIONS ARE PROVIDED. --IN GERMAN.