| dc.description.abstract | The phenomenon of adolescents who commit sexual crimes, is a serious social concern that needs to be investigated and addressed with the necessary urgency. Sexual abuse not only affects the pathology of individuals, but is part of the general, societal and cultural problems of gender and power. An adolescent from any socio-economic, psychological and cultural background can thus find himself being guilty of raping a child/children. The rehabilitation of such an adolescent hinges on the social workers’ involvement as well as the internal motivation of the adolescent. The adolescent should be assessed according to the nature of the relevant risk factors, in order to create thorough insight regarding the adolescent self, his social context and the circumstances surrounding the rape. It is seen as important to implement effective programmes.
During interviews about interventions with adolescent rapists, the social workers indicated that there are several factors contributing to the offence. If these factors that lead to the offence are not understood, the opportunity to change the behaviour of the adolescent, will be slim. It is thus important that the social workers possess the required knowledge, skills and resources, to assist with the effective intervention/rehabilitation of the adolescent rapists.
The purpose of this research is to establish how social workers can approach adolescent rapists holistically in order to make suggestions that can contribute to their effective holistic rehabilitation.
The researcher used the qualitative approach in this study. The interpretive, descriptive research design was utilized. Eight social workers participated in the research and data is obtained by means of doing a semi-structured interview with each participant. The qualitative data is transcribed and analysed in themes and sub-themes by means of Creswell’s spiral data-analysing method.
Five themes were identified, namely: 1 Themes of standardised programmes
2 Shortfalls in programmes being utilized
3 Characteristics and requirements of social workers
4 Factors that contribute to adolescents raping
5 Holistic approaches.
These themes are divided in sub-themes and categories and are discussed according to appropriate narratives as stated by the participants. The information is verified with the literature and specified conclusions and recommendations are made.
The rehabilitation of adolescent rapists is seen as a long-term process with social workers that possess the required knowledge and resources, giving inputs with a non-judgemental attitude. It is found that the limited programmes that are available do not address all identified factors and do not adequately involve the family/community. If not all aspects of the adolescent and his offence is addressed, it can possibly lead to a second similar offence.
In accordance to the conclusions, the following recommendations are made:
* Adaptable programmes with cognitive behavioural therapy as main approach, involving the family/community, need to be developed.
* Correct implementation of programmes by means of intensive training and thorough assessments, is necessary.
* The adolescent should be addressed holisticaly.
* An aftercare programme must be implemented to prevent relapse. | en_US |
