Vocational and Social Rehabilitation of Delinquents

Abstract The effectiveness of vocational rehabilitation programs in the treatment of juvenile deUquency ha never been evaluated adequately. A review of experimental designs has demonstrated that serious methodological flaws invalidate the research findings. A before and after experimental-control group design, with subjects who were matched, paired and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, was developed and applied to data on delinquents from intake to follow-up. The results of the comparison of experimental and control groups indicated that vocational rehabilitation did not enhance significantly delinquent boys' vocational development, self-esteem, and attitude towards authority, and made no significant difference in reducing recidivism. Five possible explanations for non-tigniiicant remits were given.