Correctional Programmes Implemented in Polish Juvenile Detention Centres and Juvenile Shelters and Their Evaluation

Abstract

The article consists of two parts. The first one describes types of rehabilitation programmes implemented in juvenile detention centres and juvenile shelters throughout the country. The richness of ideas, great diversity, and extensive cooperation with the open environment are not accompanied by an equally high level of programme evaluation. When writing about the rehabilitation effectiveness of their programmes (we deal with this in the second part of the text), the authors of the presented programmes refer to the following effectiveness indicators: acquisition of specific knowledge, new and useful skills, and specific social competences, by juveniles. For the authors, observation of these indicators in the programmes equates to obtaining a satisfactory result in the rehabilitation process. In most cases, indicators are registered using uncontrolled (unstructured) observation. Only 9 out of 59 programmes involved a form of evaluation based on tools that are not burdened with methodological deficiencies as opposed to uncontrolled observation; those tools included a questionnaire, a test and a case study. 9 programmes did not have any form of evaluation, while in 20 others, naturalistic observation was used.