News Release

Young in reformatories think that it will help them to find a job and give up delinquency

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Granada

This release is available in Spanish.

Most of the young taken into reformatories think that, according to the academic and professional education they receive, they will be able to find a good job in a near future and a life away from the world of delinquency as soon as they leave the centre and settle their debts with justice. Those are the conclusions of a doctoral thesis carried out by Juan Miguel Fernández Campoy, researcher of the Department of Didactics and School Organization of the University of Granada (Spain), and supervised by professors Manuel Lorenzo Delgado and Tomás Sola Martínez.

This work has taken as reference the reformatory 'Tierra de Oria' in Almeria, a closed system centre that opened its doors in 2002. To carry out this work, the researcher applied a questionnaire to a hundred male minors admitted to the centre, aged between 14 and 21 years old, and analysed at the same time the operative regulations of the centre, the internal rules and the different action protocols established.

We can infer from this research work that minors show a great concern for the punishing and disciplinary proceedings applied in the centres "as a strategy to avoid punishments and achieve privileges for their good behaviour" (weekend permissions, extensions of the visit hours, etc.).

Relations of friendship

Juan Miguel Fernández Campoy insists that the best of them "appreciate the teaching staff who works with them in the centre, and some of them have even entered into relations of friendship with them".

The work carried out at the UGR also includes some of the proposals suggested by the researcher to the reformatory 'Tierra de Oria'. Fernández Campoy suggests that the facilities should be located "in areas where the Security Forces of the State have an important presence", to intervene quickly in case of argument, instead of a place in a rural environment (as at present).

Likewise, the researcher says that the reformatories "should adapt the preparatory workshops given t the real needs of the labour market", as they qualify them to carry out jobs "are not in demand nowadays", except for the learning workshop of digital photography and graphic design.

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Part of the results of this research work have been published in the journal "Educación y Educadores", of the University of La Sabana (Colombia).

Reference: Juan Miguel Fernández Campoy. Department of Didactics and School Organization of the University of Granada. Phone number: +34 950 122 808. E-mail: wwwjuanmigueloria@yahoo.es

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