Abstract
M.A.
Community corrections or correctional supervision, which falls under
the Department of Correctional Services and was established in 1991
in South Africa, serves as an alternative sentence and to cater for
people who are on parole.
This study aims to explore the effectiveness of a life skills programme
at Johannesburg Community Corrections rendered to probationers by
social workers.
Probationers are people who have been given a sentence of
correctional supervision by the court. The probationers are compelled
to attend one of the established programmes, for example, life skills
programmes, as one of the conditions of their sentence.
Community corrections B-Order (1991: 34) states that programmes
are directly focused on the typical problem area or behaviour of the
probationer and shall be aimed at:
• preventing further crime perpetration;
• improving general sense of responsibility;
• acquiring social skills;
• improving family relations; and
• preventing alcohol and drug abuse.
The aim of this study was to evaluate a life skills workshop presented
by Johannesburg Community Corrections to probationers in 2000. A
representative sample of twenty respondents who attended a life skills
programme from April to May 2000 was used for this study. The
findings indicated that the programme addresses the above-mentioned
problem areas for probationers.
From the findings of the study, it can be concluded that most of the
probationers, after being exposed to the programme, show great
improvement when it comes to the acquisition of social skills, a general
sense of family responsibility, attitude towards crime, and family
relations. They are positive about their future and they perceive the
wrongs they have done as a learning experience.
The research design was both quantitative and qualitative in nature
and an interview schedule was completed for the purpose of data
collection.
The results of this study indicated that the programme is effective.
The majority of the respondents stated that after being exposed to
the programme, their perception, attitude, thinking and life style had
changed. The programme has to be modified, as it does not address
entrepreneurial and business management skills. Furthermore, it does
not include entrepreneurial skills training, which would ultimately help
and assist probationers to gain employment or to be self-employed
through training in terms of being self-reliant and self-employed.
Prof. J.B.S. Nel