| Project period |
01.10.2015 – 31.01.2018
| Project staff |
Prof. Dr. Thomas Bliesener (Project manager)
Dipl.-Psych. Thimna Klatt, M.Sc.
| Funding |
Ministry of Justice, Culture and Europe of Schleswig-Holstein
| Project description |
The aim of the research project is an evaluation of youth detention and education work in the State of Schleswig-Holstein’s main youth detention centre, Moltsfelde. The primary focus of the analysis is on the effect of detention, the education offerings in the detention centre, the detention centre’s links to other institutions, and the working relationship with the parents and guardians of detainees.
The study design is multimodal and both latitudinal and longitudinal. Expert interviews with youth detention centre staff are paralleled with written and telephone surveys with detainees, their parents and guardians, and their youth welfare office case workers. Detainees are surveyed on three occasions: at the beginning of detention, on release, and about six months after release. This makes it possible to capture any changes in detainees’ attitudes, behaviour and circumstances. Short questionnaires for detention centre staff are used to record the adolescents’ and young adults’ development during detention. The study is supplemented with an analysis of recidivism on the basis of Federal Central Criminal Register (BZR) data. The control group is a sample of detainees who served detention in the Motsfelde detention centre before introduction of the Schleswig-Holstein Youth Detention Enforcement Act (Jugendarrestvollzugsgesetz).