Professional engagement: A comprehensive understanding of social work intervention for juvenile offenders

Abstract

Juvenile offenders’ engagement in their social insertion process is increasingly considered essential for achieving the desired outcome of sanction programs and modifying juvenile criminal behavior. However, the professionals who work with juvenile offenders do not have defined concepts or an intervention tool. This study sought to introduce a strengths orientation to this area and investigated how the concept of engagement is defined by professionals and juvenile offenders. Twenty-four semistructured interviews were conducted with probation officials and prison professionals, and three focus groups were conducted with juvenile offenders serving sentences. The findings show that the concept of engagement differs among professionals. Nevertheless, the participants proposed common concepts of positive and negative engagement.