NCJ Number
206190
Date Published
June 2002
Length
66 pages
Annotation
This paper sought to identify issues of importance in understanding how Aboriginal youth develop or maintain resilience to engaging in criminal behavior; results of a qualitative study toward this end are presented.
Abstract
Previous research has identified peer group pressure, gender, cultural identity, and the influence of role models as significant factors in determining the outcomes of youths. The literature review goes on to identify prominent research on resilience to offending, as well as other relevant research on pathways to offending that focus on family, culture, education, justice, and social capital. Although risk factors to Aboriginal youth offending have been widely studied and recognized, scant work has been devoted to developing programs that will prevent or hinder such criminal involvement among these youths. The authors describe the collection of qualitative data on resilience to offending; a total of 334 questionnaire responses were elicited from 20 Aboriginal college students. All eight questions and all responses are enumerated; questions probed areas involving education, social capital, justice, family, and culture. In general, the results indicated that education is a powerful tool for social change and that resilience to offending should be approached through an educational framework. Social capital was identified as central to how youth feel about themselves and their ties to the community. Injustices of the criminal justice system were identified as the greatest source of trauma for Indigenous people; these injustices were also thought to contribute to the breakdown of parental and community support for youths. Many respondents noted the need for increased parental involvement in the lives of youth; a significant number of respondents identified parental support as key to impeding criminal behavior among youths. The involvement of the community was also seen as important in the healing of at-risk youth. Other significant influences on pathways to offending were identified as alcohol and drug involvement and poor emotional health. Cultural pride, however, was mentioned by only a minority of respondents as influential in offending pathways. Thus, the findings indicate that the most influential factors in the resilience of Aboriginal youth to crime are access to both community and familial support. Future research should extend the current research and work toward the development of multi-faceted programs designed to encourage the resilience of high-risk youth to offending. References