Evaluation of the youth restitution in Lower Saxony

Project period

01.01.2017 – 31.03.2019

The evaluations are still ongoing

Project staff

Prof. Dr. Thomas Bliesener (project manager)

Dipl.-Psych. Thimna Klatt, M.Sc.

Leonie Neuendorf

Funding

Ministry of Justice of Lower-Saxony

Cooperation

Kriminologischer Dienst im Bildungsinstitut des niedersächsischen Justizvollzuges

Project description

The aim of the evaluation is to examine the organization of the implementation of the youth restitution in Lower Saxony and to examine the effectiveness of the youth detention and the measures taken to promote the arrest.

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.