An Evaluation on the Rehabilitation Programmes Conducted for Juvenile Delinquents in Remand Homes and Certified Schools in Sri Lanka: A Case Study Based on Southern Province

Abstract

Juvenile Delinquency is identified as a significant issue in society. The government and some nongovernmental organizations have taken many steps and procedures to facilitate those children with care and correctional programmes. The main objective of these programmes is to correct their deviant behaviours. In this research, we noticed many issues in the prevailing system, which make it difficult to achieve the expected objectives. Therefore, this research mainly focused on identifying those issues and deriving solutions/ alternatives to overcome them. For this purpose, the legal procedures followed in institutionalizing the children and the background environmental system were observed and understood in detail. Since it is prohibited to meet and discuss with the juvenile delinquents in these institutions, semistructured interviews and informal discussions were conducted with officials of these organizations. The study findings reveal that proper counselling and individual treatment plans are not included in the rehabilitation programmes, which are essential for the psychological development of these children. Researchers also noticed that education is only provided for a selected group of children. Further, it was identified that lack of space and equipment and unfavourable physical environment lead to poor efficiency of these programmes. It is suggested to address these issues in order to improve the quality of the rehabilitation programmes conducted for juvenile delinquents. Keywords