Reform centers for minors

2015
Sherman Hoover
Reform centers for minors

In 2000, the Organic Law 5/2000, of January 12, Regulating the Criminal Responsibility of Minors (LORRPM), currently in force, was promulgated in Spain. Minors under 18 years of age who commit a criminal offense included in the Penal Code will be governed by this law..

This same law grants minors "in social conflict", minor offenders, the same constitutional rights as adults; it offers the possibility of extrajudicial reparation to the victim and, for the first time, the measures that can be imposed on them are listed. The interest of the minor should be especially valued, from a sanctioning orientation, as long as it's educational.

The LORRPM incorporates the need for an intervention of character educational and repairman. Educational because the purpose is the re-socialization and reintegration of the minor offender Y repairman because he must responsibly assume the consequences of his actions. The art. 7 of the LORRPM establishes a truly varied list of measures with a socio-educational value.

Let's talk about those measures depriving liberty: internment in a closed regime, internment in a semi-open regime, internment in an open regime and stay for the weekend.

Where are these measures fulfilled? In reform centers (colloquially known as reformatory, or juvenile prison).

What is a reform center?

They are institutions that welcome young people who have committed crimes or misdemeanors between the ages of 14 and 18, which is not linked to the fact that they leave the institution in this age group, since it will depend on the time of measurement imposed.

This means that a person with 16 years of age can enter for a serious crime and that their detention does not end until they are 20 years old, so they would remain in the center once they reach the age of majority..

The reform centers are in charge of the execution of the precautionary or firm internment measures, dictated by the juvenile courts and are governed by the contents of the law named above..

The profile of the minor offender has varied greatly in recent years, being able to find both minors with social integration problems and others from "normalized" families, as well as immigrant minors..

Characteristics of the juvenile offenders

Regarding the psychosocial characteristics of juvenile offenders is concerned, there is a general tendency to develop profiles of the juvenile offender, assuming that the majority of this group conforms to said profile.

But, although common characteristics may appear among juvenile offenders, this does not imply that we are referring to a homogeneous sample, currently it is a heterogeneous and varied population.

Among the common characteristics we find: school dropout and failure, lack of educational and socio-affective stimuli, drug use, excess free time, lack of rules and limits, as well as a deficient capacity for conflict resolution and emotional management.

It can be affirmed that the biggest problem of these minors is that they do not solve their interpersonal problems, so it requires a training to recognize the problem, that they try to define it, identify the feelings and emotions that arise as a result of said problem, know how to differentiate the facts that have occurred from your own opinions or those of others, gather information about the problem, propose and consider possible solutions, and finally, choose the best solution and carry it out.

Taking this as a basis and without forgetting that the ultimate purpose of the law is the reeducation and social reintegration, The centers must offer a wide range of activities, framed in:

Regulated school activity: get the graduate, for example.

Integration activities in the social environment: As mentioned above, one of the risk factors is excess free time and the use of it, in order to reduce its effects, the centers have a program to organize this time and introduce the minor in prosocial leisure activities.

Family integration activities: One of the most relevant characteristics of the intervention with juvenile offenders is that they are generally families with difficulties in various areas (educational deficiencies, difficulties in establishing relational boundaries, family disruption ...).

In order to enhance the positive aspects and minimize the negative factors, spaces are offered to establish guidelines for family intervention, heal relationships, establish links ...

Training-labor integration activities. It is essential to provide internal people with the basic tools for their development in order to integrate into the labor market.  

For this, pre-employment workshops of unregulated education are offered that allow minors to increase their knowledge in a specific pre-employment area, expanding their future job search possibilities..

Deinstitutionalization programs in the case of long-term measures.

Individualized / group psychotherapeutic intervention: After admission, a psychological evaluation of the minor is carried out aimed at clarifying possible difficulties, deficits or disorders in this area, which will be the object of subsequent intervention and will be included as objectives to be developed in the individualized program.

In the same way it is provided psychiatric care for those cases in which, after the psychological evaluation, said intervention is considered necessary.

Once the minor offender enters the reform center, the pertinent assessment will be carried out, with the intervention of the group of professionals who work in said center: psychologist, nurse, psychiatrist and social educator, in order to contribute to the young person tools so that their hospitalization is positive and their expectations for the future adaptive.

Initially, the minor tends to show you reserved and above all distrustful, but as the days progress he feels a greater need for emotional expression, changes in his mood, withdrawal syndrome and sometimes feelings of guilt, being he who seeks the support of the team.

"Silly, I just wanted money for marijuana, and I don't know how I ended up stabbing him"

This may be one of the most common exposures boys make in the first therapy session. Verbalizations with little detail, no guilt, and multiple excuses.

Little by little this story is joined by some hint of responsibility "Yes, I know I don't have to go out with knives, it would have saved me problems".

And if we advance in the introspection and the therapeutic feeling the minor manages to express himself from the emotion, recognizing deficiencies, strengths and risks of his behavior.

Being able from here to address the higher risk factors that determine possible criminal behavior: impulsivity, poor anger control, the search for new experiences, drug use and an unhealthy attachment bond.

How do they live this experience?

I have asked this question to many of the boys who go through reform and in a really high percentage, the answer varies from when they answer it and the time of measurement they have (they do not live it the same if it is 6 months or 3 years).

The first weeks of hospitalization the sadness and rage they invade your day to day. Most of them have not had rules or anything has been required of them and suddenly they have a schedule, rules, and a good compartment is required of them, and not only that they have to obey a person who initially has no relationship with they.

They are used to spending a lot of time on the street (going abroad depends both on their behavior and on the judicial measure), to consume when they want (in reform tobacco is allowed if they have reached the age of 18), to use a less assertive language and to a little adaptive conflict resolution, customs not admitted in the center.

So the answer is clear "This is the worst thing that has happened to me in my life" "this is not going to be of any use to me",

As time progresses, sadness and anger give way to acceptance, tiredness and reflection, and his answer becomes more hesitant "maybe I needed to go in here to stop" "here you pay attention to me outside I have no one, it is not so bad, and I'm going to get my degree".

When the end of the measure draws near, nerves, uncertainty and doubt they take over the boys, sometimes having their biggest conflicts with both classmates and educators in the weeks before the end of the measure.

It is then that with a shy voice and almost seeming to escape from his mouth, the adolescent says "thank you" or on the contrary and almost always the result of fear of the outside life, his last words in the center are harsher "I'm fed up with workshops, rules, demands and prohibitions, I don't even want to say goodbye to people".

It is evident that the deprivation of freedom it is an experience that leaves indelible marks and becomes part of the character in formation of the adolescent.


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