Influence of Parental Involvement on Rehabilitation of Juvenile Delinquents: A Case of Boys Rehabilitation Centres in Kenya

Abstract

Through the Children Act 2001, the government  banned corporal punishment, which was widely used as a corrective method. Instead guidance and counselling was introduced and advocated as an alternative method of behaviour change in correctional and rehabilitation facilities. The study examined the influence of parental involvement in decision making on rehabilitation of qelinquent boys in rehabilitation centres in Kenya. The study was based on ex post facto design and was guided by the bio-ecological theory.The target population consited of 1573 children and 54 staff in ten rehabilitation centres in Kenya. Purposive sampling procedure was adopted in selecting 140 respondents (110 delinquent adolescent boys  and 54 staff). Questionnaires and interview guide were used to colect data from the respondents. Data collected from the study was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics which included percentages, frequency counts, means, standard deviation, correlation anaysis, regression analysis and Chi-square. The study established that parental involvement in decision making had a significant positive influence on rehabilitation of delinquent boys. The sstudy concluded that parental involvement in decision making accounted for 37% of the observed improvement in the rehabilitation process.