MORAL CHARACTER INTERVENTION WITH INSTITUTIONALISED JUVENILE OFFENDERS : AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Abstract

A model of moral character intervention with juvenile offenders was proposed and empirically tested, with a sample of 16 institutionalised male offenders. Five levels of moral character were dealt with through structured group work. The five ideals selected were self-control, empathy, patience, responsibility and honesty. A quasi-experimental, pretest posttest control group design was used. Means testing shows a significance difference in the level of self control. Most of the other levels sure increases that are not significant. Reliability analysis had varying results for the sub-scales, but Cronbach Alpha for the scale was higher than that for the sub-scales, indicating the lack of orthogonal constructs. Results were not supportive of the hypotheses, but this research is informative with regards to the moral developmental needs of young offenders. It is an effort to apply theory to design an intervention which can effectively meet the moral needs of juvenile offenders.