Institutional Support Provided to Minors Before Placement in a Minor Shelter or Correctional Facility

Abstract

Before a young person is placed in a correctional facility, a series of interventions are undertaken towards him or her, which have the potential to stop criminogenic behaviour and break the causal chain leading to crime. In this paper, a qualitative analysis of the biographies of 60 minor offenders was carried out using the case study method while they were in rehabilitation facilities (correctional institutions or minor shelters). The personal documents collected by the rehabilitation institutions contain a large quantity of information (interviews, diagnoses, and expert opinions) about minors against whom several systemic interventions were previously applied in the course of their lives. The results show the large number and variety of interventions made towards minors, which ultimately did not prevent their placement in rehabilitation facilities because they were usually made too late.