Hart, Karen (2016) The efficacy of community justice intervention services to increase social capital and reduce incarceration for young adults. PhD thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

The period of late ‘youth’ in the human lifespan is dynamically diverse, culturally contextual and relatively fleeting. Nevertheless, ample opportunity exists to expose the confluence of factors and causes that lead to contemporary offending by this age group and to determine appropriate responses to prevent their continued involvement in the criminal justice system. This research project contributes to that knowledge by evaluating the efficacy of community justice intervention services in increasing social capital and preventing incarceration for a sample population of young adults aged between 18 and 25 years. This evaluation was underpinned by two strong motivations: firstly, to find out the interventions and strategies required to engage young adults in building their resilience against the factors that lead to their offending behaviour; and, secondly, to determine whether the effects of the Youth, Community and Law Program (YCLP), based in Sunshine, Melbourne, Victoria, contributed to the prevention of crime for young adults. I am satisfied that, in this study, I have reached a conclusion on both counts.

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